A tongue in cheek gangbuster novel of 1940 Chicago, Fat Angelino kidnaps a beautiful screenwriter, but a savvy detective is desperate to rescue her before it's too late. Detective Max Hooper of the first district police department is surprised when a young, ragtag woman named Lucy Nichols appears in his office with a wild tail of having seen Chicago's most wanted crime boss Fat Angelino residing in Al Capone's old hideout, The Lexington Hotel. She was recently hired by Gangster Studios as a screenwriter to write a screenplay that must satisfy the backers in three weeks or else the studio would fold up. Hooper had a mind not to treat her seriously when she asked him to fill her in on how detectives solve crimes for the sake of the script, but he decided to let her help in capturing Fat Angelino in a police stakeout. All she had to do was watch and observe, but her position rapidly becomes untenable. She manages to write parts of her new screenplay when she's not helping the police, which her boss likes, but her absence also makes him nervous since the screenplay deadline rapidly approaches. When Fat Angelino takes a shine to Lucy, he kidnaps her and sets the search wheels into high gear. She's fallen in love with Hooper who has responded positively to her quirky advances. He's determined to rescue her at all cost since their relationship and her life hang in the balance.