Retired schoolteacher Maude Turner and her widowed brother-in-law Victor Jamison are enjoying a day of kite flying. At least, Maude is; Victor is just along as companion and driver. Since Maude stepped in a gopher hole and broke her ankle, Victor has curtailed his social life to serve as Maude's chauffeur. But chauffeur is all Victor volunteered for, certainly not to serve as Maude's assistant when she insists an accidental death by kite they both witness is actually murder. Her claims dismissed by the police as the raving of a senile old woman, Maude launches her own investigation.