Trouble in Seattle

In the year 1931 during The Great Depression, Jack Vogel and his 14-year-old daughter Juanita travel in an open boxcar from Cat Creek, Montana to Seattle. Jack hopes to reunite with his brother Frank and find work in one of Seattle's lumber mills or shipyards, but little do Jack and Juanita suspect they will soon become fugitives hunted in a murder investigation.

Destitute and homeless in Seattle, Jack has little choice but to send Juanita away as a live-in domestic in the house of Walter and Cora McCabe.

McCabe has an export shipping business with an office on Pier 91 and is dealing with corrupt waterfront development interests out to destroy him. Among these are prominent members of the Seattle Waterfront Redevelopment Commission involved in a wide range of criminal activity including speakeasies, brothels, and gambling operations. Sheriff Gus Gustafson has long benefited from their kickbacks but is beginning to have second thoughts regarding his professional and personal involvement, and is looking for a way out.

Meanwhile, a murder investigation draws authorities closer to Jack and Juanita Vogel.