Synopsis

After the death of his beloved wife Kate, millionaire Cary Maxwell (Tony Franciosa) created Maxwell Limited, a private investigation agency specializing in tracking down "missing people who are especially missed." He was, "something like a detective, but not a card-carrying detective." Cary's philosophy was that if he couldn't be with the person he loved, he would dedicate himself and his staff to finding the lost loves of his clients.

Maxwell Limited's clientele came from all different walks of life. Rich or poor, young or old, any nationality ... it didn't matter. If Cary believed their reason for coming to him, he would help, never worrying about fees. Each episode usually involved two separate searches, with Cary and his associate Daisy Lloyd (Deborah Adair) each handling a client. Often overlapping as the two detectives used each other for guidance, the stories were always unpredictable: they could be funny, sad, mysterious, touching, or even dangerous. And not all had a happy ending. Yet there was usually a climatic release that concluded the search for both the clients and the detectives.

Daisy was Kate's intelligent and beautiful younger sister who had just graduated from college and had been accepted at several different law schools when Cary recruited her. Assisting them was office manager Rita Hargrove (Anne Jeffreys) who not only maintained the office computer and kept up Cary's contacts with government offices, but also dispensed good advice when needed. Brian Fletcher (Richard Kantor) helped Rita and took care of the footwork for cases by tracking down leads. After Brian left the firm to attend law school full time, Lyman Whittaker (Larry Flash Jenkins) joined the team as Cary's driver and covered some of Brian's duties.

Between stories, most episodes featured brief glimpses of Cary and Daisy's evolving relationship. It was obvious from the beginning that Daisy secretly cared about Cary very deeply, but she never pushed it -- even kept her distance from him at times -- because of his memory of her sister. And living in Kate's shadow often seemed difficult for Daisy. Yet as the series advanced, the writers subtly started to let Cary release the memory of Kate and Daisy was usually the one he turned to.

There was an underlying, unspoken tension between the detectives, like they were both waiting for the right moment to approach each other. It often showed in their conversations, usually at the office or on the phone when one of them was out of town on a case. Though casual and never direct, they often discussed topics like marriage, having children, and even the possibility of each one falling in love again. But it wasn't always smooth ... they had several heated arguments, especially when another person came between them like Sara Nevins in Goodbye, Sara or Jim Chasen in Mr. Wonderful. When they eventually came around to resolving the dispute, though, they seemed to be that much closer. And it was all so gracefully played out by the stars, Tony Franciosa and Deborah Adair. They gave their characters depth and warmth and made them unique in the extensive world of Aaron Spelling's creations.
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