In 1962, a homicide detective re-assigned to a vice unit targeting gay men finds rampant corruption and unearths a conspiracy to hide his brother's murder.

SYNOPSIS:

Randall “Randy” Spring, an off-duty homicide detective, and his wife Judy, visit the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair. Randy refuses an offer of free tickets, saying he doesn’t like such perks. While they enjoy a show, Tom Pepper, a costumer, is attacked and killed backstage by an unknown assailant. Noticing the commotion, Randy goes to the crime scene. He finds a red feather, a popular decoration in a man’s hat. He is assigned the case.

A year later, he’s made little progress. He’s contacted by Chris Stanley, an ambitious young deputy prosecutor. After Randy meets Chris in his mememto-filled office, Chris takes Randy to a local bar, where Randy witnesses a payoff to a policeman by the bar owner. Chris asks Randy, disgusted by the bribe, to join his investigation of police corruption. Uncertain, Randy accepts Chris’ invitation to a house party celebrating the birthday of Chris’s wife, Sandra. Randy meets Jack Sharp, the detective in charge of the city’s vice unit. The guests include Randy’s brother George and his fiance, Melanie. Returning home, Randy and Judy hear George and Mel having sex in the spare bedroom.

Having decided to join Chris’s anti-corruption probe, Randy joins a raid on a cabaret frequented by homosexuals. A female impersonator entertains the crowd when the police arrive and destroy the bar for failing to pay protection money. Meanwhile, Chris is warned off his investigation by the county prosecutor and a local hood. Later, Judy, Sandra, Mel, and Dorothy Sharp, Jack’s wife, visit a high-end department store to look at wedding dresses for Mel. Sandra gets upset, and confesses that she and her husband Chris have stopped having sex. He might be having an affair, but a divorce is unthinkable.

Randy visits several downtown bars and amusement parlors collecting cash payoffs. Jack Sharp assigns him to a new project, a sting against illegal solicitation and lewd conduct in a local park. During the sting, George is arrested. Randy is shocked; he has no idea his brother is gay. Randy confronts George in jail, but he asks Chris to go easy on him. Chris obliges, and the charges are dropped. Despite this, George’s name is published in the newspaper. He loses his job and his fiance, who feels betrayed. Randy urges George to lay low, but after George vanishes, Randy learns that he’s been killed.

Devastated and disillusioned, Randy tries to quit, but Chris persuades him to stay on. Chris is elected county prosecutor, and begins to bring indictments, using Randy’s evidence. Jack is jailed, and he tells Randy the real reason Chris wanted him on the investigation, to keep an eye on him. Exposed as a snitch, other vice officers beat up Randy. The hood, Mike Colacurcio, rescues Randy, and offers a clue to the Tom Pepper murder. He also implies Chris had a relationship with George.

Randy follows up on Mike’s tip. He visits the evidence room at the downtown police station and finds the envelope containing the red feather. In the small hours, he takes the feather to Chris’s office and compares it to a photo, which shows Chris wearing a pork pie hat. The feathers match. He also notices that a billy club, framed as a memento from Chris’s policeman father, is missing. On a hunch, he takes the frame to the police lab, where a technician identifies traces of blood belonging to Tom Pepper.

Randy goes to Chris’s home, where he finds the prosecutor and his wife, Sandra. Randy pushes his way in. He confronts Chris with the evidence of the red feather and the blood residue from the billy club. Chris denies everything. Randy demands to see the billy club, which has gone missing. Outside, police arrive. Chris panics and finds the nightstick. Randy pulls his gun. Chris admits to Pepper’s murder. He also admits to murdering George. Randy is stunned. He’s tempted to kill Chris in revenge. Cops knock on the door. Randy is distracted. Chris attacks with the club. The gun goes off. Chris is hit. He dies in Sandra’s arms. Randy’s old boss in homicide asks him to return.

THE RED FEATHER