Alaska Airline Captain Robert Pfeil was the scion of an Alaskan pioneer family. His sister Muriel was a winner in her own right. Owner of Alaska's most successful travel agency, routinely voted one of the best dressed women in Anchorage, she was worldly in a city better known for its sourdoughs and roughnecks. On September 30, 1976, a vehicle explosion rocked downtown Anchorage. When the dust settled, Muriel Pfeil was trapped in the driver's seat. Dead. Her brother immediately blamed Neil Mackay, Muriel's estranged ex-husband-a multi-millionaire lawyer and real estate mogul. Robert Pfeil knew the motive: Mackay wanted custody of the couple's only son, three-year-old Scotty.

Pfeil acted quickly, snatching up Scotty, intent on spiriting him away from his reclusive father. That worked for a while. After young Scotty was kidnapped by his father, however, Robert Pfeil led a global chase to retrieve him. A chase that ultimately ended with Robert Pfeil's tragic death at the hands of contract killers.