Spin Patterson is the legendary head of Gulf-Tex Oil. Self-made billionaire and charismatic leader, he is riding high and on the brink of announcing a revolutionary new technology that will raise the value of his company even higher. Max McLennon is his heir apparent and surrogate son, mentored by Spin after the death of his own father in an oil rig accident years before. But then things start going wrong: Spin's wife hits him with a massive divorce settlement; Gulf-Tex turns out to have been overstating its oil reserves; and the revolutionary technology hits a glitch. For a while it looks as if Spin's Midas touch is going to kick in and save them all. But then Max suspects that Spin's success has been bought at a terrible cost. Max's idol has feet of clay - but can he really also have a murderer's hands?