Small town librarian Gwen Barlow gets more than she bargained for when she inherits her uncle's lavish Mississippi showboat and heads to the "sin center of America" in 1898. She discovers that the Jubilee Palace is in serious financial straits, her uncle's death by falling theater backdrop is under suspicion, and the showboat family of actors and musicians are the prime suspects. Her life is further complicated when she hires handsome Carson Stockwell to captain the Jubilee, and he becomes a suspect as well. Gwen teams up with Carson to find the murderer before he/she can strike again.