A spinster and her widowed sister, who are the authors of murder-mystery novels, try to track down the killer of a former movie star. This TV pilot film became a series of rotating movies the following season.
In the second "Ironside" movie, the Chief has his spine jolted during a hospital encounter with a narcotics pusher, not only raising the possibility for an operation that might cure his paralysis but also putting him in jeopardy because he can identify the man who had just shot a guard.
Citizens of San Francisco are stunned by the news that Robert Ironside, the city's hard-nosed, tough-talking chief of detectives, has been shot and left for dead while vacationing at his friend the Police Commissioner's rural retreat. Ironside survives the murder attempt, but the bullet has damaged nerves in his spine, leaving him a paraplegic. Unable to gain reinstatement as chief of detectives, Ironside gets permission to continue investigating criminal cases as a citizen volunteer. With the assistance of two former protegees, Det. Sgt. Ed Brown and Officer Eve Whitfield, and a newly-hired aide/driver, Mark Sanger, Ironside sets out to solve his first case as a civilian by finding the people responsible for the attempt on his life.
A brash, big-time investigative reporter, looking into the death of a call girl, uncovers her diary and tries to find her killer among the names contained in it.
When Lyle Endicott is fired from his job at an art museum, he comes up with a plan to take advantage of a trusting invalid whom he befriended at the museum.