At the Los Angeles premiere for a traveling Shakespearean theater company, Perry Mason and Della Street go backstage to see his client, the show's star, Ramona Carver. She has been searching for the child she gave up for adoption years ago and Perry has investigated three young men to see if they might be the child. The latest is Douglas McKenzie, a young man who approached Ramona in Flagstaff, Arizona claiming to be her son. She gets him a job with the touring company but tells Perry that Douglas is out to get money from her and is not her son. She tries to pay him off with a check for $5,000 instead of leaving it to Perry to do his job but Douglas tears up the check. Perry has Paul follow Douglas who continues to follow the show to its next stop. When the company moves on to Santa Barbara, they fully expect a run-in with acerbic critic Ogden G. Kramer. When Kramer is found dead, Ramona is charged with murder and Perry has to uncover the true murderer.
—garykmcd