In 1955 Harry Kavanagh's uncle steals a ringside seat for a championship bout in Madison Square Garden. "Hey kid, out of my seat!" It's Humphrey Bogart! Rewarding the kid for his moxie, Bogie gives him his fedora. It's 2016 and years after the death of his wife, Felicity, Harry is still grieving. When the medical examiner commits suicide, Harry suspects his wife may have been murdered. Harry tenuously re-emerges into the world in an effort to find the truth. Along the way he is roughed up by the brawny brothers he nicknames the Liverwurst Twins, nearly drowns during a Nor'easter, is threatened by a mobster, and is rescued by a shadowy woman who is known to Harry only by the scent of her perfume. Armed with an acerbic tongue and an awakening rage, the once sedentary college professor serves out his sabbatical dishing out easy violence and a lecture to anyone who has the audacity to get in his way. Harry's sidekick is his beloved Great Dane, Lolly. They're assisted by his college-age son