After a series of low-paying jobs, Chico Santana, PI, is living in his tiny office on 149th Street in the Bronx. He's in an absolutely foul mood when Pablo Sanchez and his mother drop in, seeking help for one of Chico's old childhood pals----the handsome and charismatic Joey Ventura. Chico has not seen Joey since Joey disappeared from St. Mary's Home for Boys, headed for Tahiti. He ended up, instead, on the island of TSP---The Superman Project.The Superman Project peddles German philosophy, Hinduism, and American comic book mythology as a method toward self-improvement, but its members are hiding more than a few secrets. The leader of TSP is a man named Father Ravi. One of his daughters, Gabby, who is also Joey's wife, is missing. Joey was accused by the TSP leaders of killing Gabby and has fled the police. Pablo and his mother insist he is innocent.Compelled to believe in his old friend, and by the promised payment of a very valuable Superman comic,...

Chico Santana is broke and brokenhearted after his wife, Ramona, leaves him. On New Year's Eve, he comes out of his self-imposed seclusion and runs into an old friend from St. Mary's Home for Boys, a member of "The Dirty Dozen." Albert Garcia is now a waiter and a wannabe filmmaker, tangled up with rising film star Kirk Atlas and his wealthy, eccentric family. On learning Chico's a PI, Atlas hires him to track down his cousin Tiffany, a beautiful Chinese-Cuban-American girl who has packed up and left her family, sending letters saying she doesn't want to be found. It seems like easy dough, which Chico could use. But on the night he gets the job, Atlas's Brazilian maid falls from the rooftop of her apartment in Queens. Albert and everyone else insists it was a suicide, but Chico has a bad feeling. His search for Tiffany is soon thwarted by other family members, and more disturbing and sinister details come to light. Although Chico's being paid good...