As part of the research for an upcoming Robin Masters novel, Higgins contacts a witness in the 1942 murder of a prison camp inmate by a civilian guard, and soon after is badly injured in an accident when the Ferrari's brakes fail. When the mechanic confirms that someone has tampered with the car, Thomas sets out to find who wants to stop Higgins's research, and uncovers blackmail and shady politics at the center of the case.

When Higgins unwittingly causes Magnum to wipe an expensive computer game loaned from T.C., and Thomas accidentally erases a chunk of Higgins' memoirs stored on the computer, a feud breaks out between the pair. Magnum is trying to break a major, crooked gambling ring that is operating on the islands, but it is none too easy while in the middle of the falling out with Higgins, which starts out with each trying to out-do the other with ""eye-for-an-eye"" practical jokes, and quickly develops into a particularly bitter battle of one-upmanship...