Tod and Buz, in Philadelphia, are just about to leave Chuck Briner's apartment, where they have been staying for the week. Chuck is a friend of Buz's from the old neighborhood, he a truant officer at the time. He is now a social worker. Before Tod and Buz leave, Chuck, needing to run a last minute errand, asks Tod and Buz to look after seventeen year old Marva, who has just dropped by unexpectedly, until he returns. The next Tod and Buz know, the police inform them Chuck is dead, either having fallen or pushed from an apartment rooftop where he was seen with a street gang called the Missiles led by a reckless youth named Packy Girard, and Marva is gone. The police are able to round up many of the members of the Missiles for questioning but not Marva. The police learn from the Missiles and independent eyewitnesses that Chuck fell and was not pushed. Tod and Buz have to find Marva to discover the reason that Chuck gave up his life for her, and perhaps finish what Chuck was unable to in helping Marva. If they can find Marva, they will learn it all has to do with her boyfriend Johnny Berenson, who was able to get out of the gang with Chuck's help. Packy in particular will not let the situation off lightly, especially as he, as per the Missiles' constitution, sees Marva as being his girl. Tod and Buz will also learn that the Missiles deal with leadership and thus respect through games of "chicken".
—Huggo