In 1955, a gruff New York-based private investigator named Harry Angel is hired by the enigmatic Louis Cyphre to track down a missing crooner named Johnny Favorite. Favorite, who owed a significant debt to Cyphre, disappeared during World War II after being severely wounded, with the trail running cold at a hospital for shell-shocked soldiers. Cyphre's interest in finding the elusive singer seems to transcend mere business, imbuing the assignment with a mysterious and ominous air. Angel takes the job, though he is wary of his client's quietly menacing demeanor and the strange terms of their contract. His investigation is anything but straightforward, dragging him deep into a seedy underworld of jazz musicians, fortune tellers, and religious zealots.

Angel's journey leads him from the urban decay of Harlem to the sultry streets of New Orleans, where each clue reveals more complexities and contradictions about Favorite's life and fate. He navigates through a maze of uncooperative witnesses and half-truths, and his methods, ranging from suave persuasion to brutal confrontation, dredge up more than just the details of Favorite's existence. As Angel pieces together the puzzle, ominous forces seem to conspire against him, with every step forward making it increasingly evident that he is caught up in a situation far more sinister than a typical missing person's case.