Sitting on the Fund Raising Committee for the City of Zion Hospital, coroner Steve Wojeck learns of an emergency admission of an Arab sailor who has a possible case of smallpox. This Arab admission to the Jewish hospital creates a controversial issue for the committee members. Bourgiba, the ship's captain, fights the health authorities when the sailor's ship is quarantined and the ship's owner offers a donation to the hospital in return for the sailor's release. Wojeck is prompted to investigate when he learns that there is a dead man aboard the ship.