The year is 1942, and America is starting to feel the pinch of wartime deprivation. For gumshoe Toby Peters, "doing without" is no big deal; he scrapes by as a private eye by doing the oddest of odd jobs, and he seems to be surrounded by a coterie of curious characters. This time, it's none other than Eleanor Roosevelt. The First Lady is convinced that the president's little dog, Fala, has been kidnapped and seeks the aid of Toby to track down the real First Dog. The fun begins: Toby finds himself uncovering a plot to overthrow the government by a crackpot political party known as the New Whigs, dodging whacks from a cop who dislikes him intensely, and being framed for a murder he can't prove he didn't commit.