The film starred Rod Taylor as Travis McGee, the protagonist of a series of successful novels by MacDonald.

Vangie was part of a team that worked in male/female pairs on cruise ships: pretty young women lured rich lonely men and then drugged their drinks to rob them when they were passed out.

On a cruise ship, Travis poses as a wealthy man traveling alone, serving as bait for Terry and his new partner Del.

Del approaches Travis and invites him to her room—but knowing their scheme he refuses to take the drinks she serves and warns that her life is in danger.

Security guards try stopping Terry, but they only slow him until Travis appears and takes down the muscle-bound killer with a blow from a wooden 2x4.

He wrote that Taylor, somewhat playing against type by showing more warmth than his usual taciturn performances, was well-cast as McGee and that the plot managed to transcend standard detective cliches to become "a surprisingly good movie".

[4] MacDonald disliked the film calling it "feral, cheap, rotten, gratuitously meretricious, shallow and embarrassing.

Producer Jack Reeves had bought the rights for another McGee novel The Deep Blue Goodbye but it was decided not to proceed with it.