Harry Orwell is a LA cop who is retired due to a bullet in his back. Now a Private Detective, Harry O. is hired by the man who shot him (Martin Sheen) to find the other man (Sal Mineo) who was involved in the shooting. Mineo is trying to kill Sheen and also keep his heroin business alive. Harry O. wants to bring both to justice.

Pilot for the series of the same title. While responding to a burglary-in-progress report at a local Los Angeles drugstore, police officer Harry Orwell is shot in the back and his partner is killed. The bullet lodges in Harry's spine and forces him to retire from the force. Shortly thereafter, he becomes a private detective. In the pilot episode, titled "Such Dust As Dreams Are Made On," Harry struggles to protect Harlan Garrison -- the man who shot him -- from his former partner, Walter Scheerer, who has put a contract out on Harlan's life.