jack tagger jr., an obituary writer for the south florida "union-register", becomes intrigued upon seeing a death notice for james bradley stomarti, also known as jimmy stoma. jimmy was the lead man of the rock band jimmy and the slut puppies. jack interviews jimmy's widow, pop singer cleo rio, who says that jimmy died in a diving accident in the bahamas. cleo plugs her new upcoming album "shipwrecked heart", with a title song written by jimmy and herself. however, after the obituary is printed, jimmy's sister janet tells him cleo lied: jimmy was working on his own comeback album. jack gets more suspicious when he sees jimmy's body in a funeral home and find that no autopsy was performed. however, before jack can call for one, the body is cremated.