Spenser attends a play at his girlfriend's insistence to meet a director who is allegedly being stalked. During the performance, the lead actor in a hale of fake arrows is suddenly killed by a real arrow from a crossbow. This launches Spencer into an investigation of everyone involved with the theatrical company and leads him up against a Chinese mobster, who warns Spencer to quit questioning his wife, one of the theater's patrons. However, everything changes when the mobster is found beaten to death.