Private detective Eddie Shoestring is asked by Radio West to look into the life of Sarah Marshall, a prostitute who has committed suicide. She died in a Rolls Royce belonging to David Carn, the station's most popular disc jockey, immediately after she had desperately tried to see him, and Radio West wants Eddie to show Sarah had no connection with their man.

Eddie nervously does his first ""Private Ear"" program and tries to locate the drivers of a van who are responsible for killing a young woman's husband in a car accident.

Eddie goes to work for Jean, the wife of Major Hansford, a tough prep school headmaster (and retired Army officer) whose small school is being threatened by a series of nasty pranks.

Marion Cutler, a social worker, asks Eddie to look for Nick Forrest, one of her charges who has gone missing. Nick is a remarkable fellow who had been living in a hut on the beach. But Steve, the owner of the hut, tells Eddie he's never heard of him. The mystery begins to centre on some aerial photographs of the coast-line taken by Nick, and Eddie soon finds he is onto a dangerous gang of drug-smugglers.

The wife of a convict threatens to throw herself off the roof of the Radio West building unless Eddie investigates her claim of a miscarriage of justice. Her husband was jailed for killing a shop assistant while robbing a local jeweller's shop - but did he do it?

A militant defender of abused women lodges a complaint with Eddie that leads him to Jimmy Colefax, who is trying to sail around the world in a homemade boat.

Andy Stapleton, an old friend of Eddie, witnesses the murder of a stamp dealer and asks his old friend for help when the thugs come after him.

Toola, a rock singer, asks Eddie to find the missing girl friend of an ex-member of her band but the search leads to secrets someone is willing to kill for.

Sonia witnesses a casual friend, Jenny Kelson, being harassed by a bully. When Jenny later accidentally leaves an envelope full of money with Sonia, Eddie picks up the story and looks into what Jenny is hiding.

A distraught mother asks Eddie to look into a cult her daughter has gotten involved with called the ""Starshines"", and who stand to receive her 15,000 pound inheritance in a few weeks.