Ironside's Aunt Victoria suspects foul play when one of her card-playing friends vanishes. Despite her nephew's admonitions, Victoria and her bridge partners shadow their missing friend's husband, who insists his wife left him.
With his assistants away, the chief receives a phone call telling him to expect a deadly visitor within sixty minutes. Ironside spends the remaining time improvising self defense without weapons - and trying to identify the caller.
Mark finally graduates from law school. He takes an interest in a janitor from the school who finds himself in jail accused of grand theft. Meanwhile Ironside struggles with the reality that Mark may eventually leave for his new career.
A hit man is given the job of killing Ironside before he can testify before the Grand Jury, and the hit man has well-deserved the reputation of never missing his mark.
When a rising folk-singer's body is found in the water under the Golden Gate Bridge, suicide is suspected, but Ironside has reasons to suspect something else.
Ironside knows a man Mark ran errands for as a child is a convicted robber who may be involved in the murder of a gangland racketeer. Mark, however, defies a warning to stay away from his old acquaintance.
After a parole officer is shot at, Ironside finds the list of possible suspects is quite long. A drug pusher may be responsible since he is especially hard on them after his sister was confined to an institution after a bad drug experience.
Jerry, an adolescent boy, goes into shock after his mother is murdered. Ironside looks after him and tries to convince his vengeful father not to escape from prison.