PREVIOUSLY: Peter Parker's life over the last few issues has been a roller coaster ride. His long-time friend and mentor, Joe Robbie Robertson, had his back broken by the hitman known as Tombstone, with whom he shared a somewhat shady history. As Spider-Man, Peter defeated Tombstone and sent him to jail, and Robbie confessed to the Justice Department to having lied about murders Tombstone committed twenty years earlier because he was scared of his retribution.

Before being caught by Spider-Man, Tombstone was working for the Arranger and kidnapped Roland Rayburn, a mutant with the ability to persuade others to do his will. The Arranger experimented on Rayburn and helped him increase his powers of persuasion; he also gave him a new name: The Persuader. In turn, the Persuader kidnapped The Punisher, who was in New York tracking down Tombstone and after ten hours of persuasion, convinced him to join the Kingpin’s army. Spider-Man had joined forces with The Punisher earlier in the issue to track down Tombstone and became aware that The Punisher was nowhere to be found.

The Gwen Stacy clone also resurfaced in Lansing, Michigan over the last few issues and she came under attack by some members of the High Evolutionary. She managed to get away without a scratch and made her way towards New York City to find Peter Parker!

In Spectacular Spider-Man #144, Peter Parker ventured out to Mission Bay, San Diego, to appear on a television program called "Hello There San Diego" to promote his picture-book, "Webs", which features pictures of Spider-Man he's taken over the years. On said show, he met Louis Baxter III, a yachting enthusiast and current champion of the world in yachting, and Tama Janowitz, a New York City novelist, author of "Slaves in New York". He immediately struck a friendship with Tama but was put off by Baxter's self-absorbed persona. Meanwhile elsewhere, the super-villain known as Boomerang was hired by a certain Mr. Lily to mess with the upcoming North American yachting cup being held at Mission Bay opposing Louis Baxter III with his ship "The Champion" and Australian favorite, Artie Crippen, with his ship "The Defiant".

After a hard day promoting his book, Peter headed back to his hotel room, called Mary Jane to talk for a while, then switched to his Spider-Man duds and swung out into the San Diego night. After a while, Spidey came to rest atop a building overlooking Mission Bay. Seconds later, a huge explosion took place on the other side of the bay at the marina. Spidey headed over there and after eavesdropping on a conversation between two policemen, who found a boomerang amidst the wreckage of the explosion, he spotted Boomerang atop a nearby building. Spidey confronted him and a quick battle ensued but Boomerang managed to get away.

Back in New York City, Robbie Robertson returned to the Daily Bugle to the applause of his co-workers. But minutes after his arrival, two US marshals showed up and arrested him for obstruction of justice and being an accessory to murder after the fact in the Tombstone case.

Meanwhile back in San Diego, Peter went out to dinner with Louis Baxter III to try to gather information about him so as to determine why his vessel was the target of an explosion the night before. While at the marina restaurant, Baxter's number one competition, Artie Crippen, showed up and accused Louis of bribing race officials and sabotaging his chances to win the cup. On cue, Boomerang also showed up and though it appears he targeted Baxter with one of his killer boomerangs, Artie Crippen was struck in the throat and died instantly. Peter switched to his Spider-Man costume and went after Boomerang who, for some strange reason, stuck around for another shot, or so it seemed. The two foes battled it out ferociously but Boomerang got the best of Spidey (using his jet-boots) and sent him crashing back into the waters of Mission Bay.

A short while later, a distraught Louis Baxter III gave his statement to the police concerning the death of Artie Crippen and his thoughts on the whole situation, which he genuinely seemed disturbed about. Eavesdropping from a nearby rooftop, Spidey agreed with Baxter's opinion of the whole situation but realized that he was still not any closer to figuring out who was behind all of this. Realizing he was going to have to stay a few extra days to figure things out, he called Mary Jane to let her know that he wasn't going to be back the next day, as initially planned.

The mastermind was revealed on the last page of the issue: Louis Baxter III. Baxter hired Boomerang to act as if he was attacking him, thus making everybody believe that he, Baxter, was the target of Boomerang's attack; hence, when Crippen was killed, everyone assumed Boomerang was aiming at him, when in fact, he had been aiming at Crippen the whole time. By doing so, Baxter's reputation got a boost, his toughest competition was killed and "The Champion" remained as ready as ever for the next day's race. Baxter's plan worked thus far but Spider-Man's presence in San Diego worried him but a vengeful Boomerang offered to personally take care of Spider-Man for free.

Spider-Man arrives at the marina unnoticed, begins crawling underneath the dock and makes his way to where "The Champion" is anchored. Taking a closer look at the ship, Spidey notices some kind of strange panel in its skiff. He doesn't get to examine the panel any closer because his spider-sense suddenly kicks in, alerting him of impending danger. He quickly turns around and dodges an incoming boomerang. But as he does so, another boomerang comes flying towards him, hits him in the chest and it starts emitting some kind of sleeping gas. Spidey is rendered unconscious and falls into the water, while Boomerang gloats from the deck of "The Champion".

Meanwhile at the Central Park Zoo in New York City, Ben Urich meets a Detective named Frank at a crime scene where the body of a certain Teddy Tones, one of the Kingpin's cronies, was found earlier that morning. Urich notices that Tones is cut up pretty good and wonders why there's no blood. The detective tells Urich to check out the cage wall behind him so Urich turns his attention to the cage. Written in blood on the wall is the following message: "KINGPIN: WOLVES BITE BACK".

Meanwhile, just west of Central Park in Bedford Towers, Mary Jane comes running out of the building, late for a modeling assignment (MJ was waiting for Peter to call but he didn't so now she is worried and running late). She yells at her chauffeur to start the limousine and prepares to jump aboard the vehicle when she runs into a young girl with very bright red hair pulled into two ponytails on either side of her head. Mary Jane is angry with the girl and yells at her to watch where she's going. The girl replies by saying "Hiya, Cousin MJ!", which literally stuns MJ, until she realizes that it's her younger cousin, Kristy Watson, who, according to her has come to live with her until Easter.

Meanwhile at the Federal Court Building in downtown Manhattan, Joe "Robbie" Robertson, his son Randy, J. Jonah Jameson, and Mrs. Bernhammer, Robbie's legal counsel, are making their way out of the building. Randy is angry that his dad offered himself as a witness against Tombstone without bargaining for special immunity and that the prosecution is now turning his own words against him. Mrs. Bernhammer replies that fairness is not the issue here and that Robbie willingly admitted in deposition to knowledge of murder, which knowledge he concealed. Jameson intervenes and tells her that he did so because he feared for his life. Mrs. Bernhammer replies that when the case comes to trial, she will certainly make that point. At that point, Robbie tells them that there won't be a trial because he can't escape responsibility for keeping silent about Tombstone's murders and that he doesn't intend to try. Having said that, he tells Mrs. Bernhammer that he wants to plead guilty at his arraignment being held the following week. Jameson, Randy and Mrs. Bernhammer are stunned to hear Robbie say that and try to convince him otherwise but Robbie replies that it is his decision. On that note, he asks Randy to take him home.

Back in San Diego, Spider-Man regains consciousness and finds himself chained up to the deck of a small speedboat driven by Boomerang. Boomerang fesses up to working for Baxter and arranging the explosion on his yacht and the killing of Artie Crippen. Then he tells Spidey that the speedboat he's currently shackled to is carrying half a ton of Plastic explosive set on a contact fuse and that fifteen minutes from then, the speedboat will ram a buoy on the race course, just after "The Champion" passes by. Having said that, Boomerang flies away, leaving Spidey to try and break the chains holding him down.

The race has begun and "The Champion" is leading the competition but "The Defiant", even without their recently deceased captain, Artie Crippen, is in close second. Aboard "The Champion", Baxter tells his deck hands that either they pass the two-mile buoy with "The Defiant" ten minutes behind them or they can start writing their résumés. As he says that, Boomerang is seen flying nearby the vessel. Meanwhile, back on land, the race announcers have noticed that the speedboat that has Spider-Man on board has just entered the racecourse. Aboard the speedboat, Spidey is still trying very hard to break the chains holding him down and manages to free up one of his legs.

Back on "The Champion", Baxter is starting to get nervous because "The Defiant" has closed the gap significantly. Worried that he might lose, he activates a button on the console and a secret panel in the ship's hull immediately opens up and the cloud machine hidden behind the panel begins emitting large clouds, which instantly surround the vessel. In the sky above, Boomerang enjoys watching Baxter trick the other racers and realizes why he was hired to kill Artie Crippen in the first place: Crippen had found out about Baxter's fog maker and probably threatened to expose Baxter so Baxter had him killed.

Back on the speedboat, Spidey uses his free foot to kick the ship's wheel moments before the speedboat runs into the buoy. The speedboat misses the buoy by six inches at the most but Spidey's troubles are not over yet. Boomerang has become aware that the speedboat hasn't crashed, as initially planned, and he is now on his way to finish Spider-Man once and for all. Using all of his remaining strength, Spidey manages to break the chains binding him and has but a few seconds to dodge three incoming boomerangs thrown by Boomerang. Boomerang taunts Spidey and tells him that there are no walls for him to crawl on, no lamps to swing by, and that he can't use his super-powers out there. Realizing that Boomerang does indeed have a point, Spidey settles to diving into the deep blue sea. The speedboat takes off on its own and heads directly across the racecourse.

Back on "The Champion", Baxter, using as cover the fog created by his cloud machine, pushes another button on the console, which activates a pair of hidden turbo-jets in the back of the ship. The ship takes off at a very fast pace, a gloating Baxter at the helm. Meanwhile, back on the speedboat, Spidey holds on to the side of the speedboat while trying to dodge boomerangs thrown at him from above. In a moment of carelessness, he appears to get hit and goes under. Boomerang is ecstatic, thinking that he's killed Spider-Man. Back on "The Champion" Baxter is also thrilled, having stretched the gap between his ship and "The Defiant" to half-a-mile. Back around the speedboat, Boomerang is not so cheerful anymore; Spider-Man's body hasn't floated back up ever since he went under (Spider-Man is in fact holding on to the underside of the speedboat). Boomerang decides to check the speedboat and as he does so, Spidey surfaces and snags him with a web-line. Boomerang is in disbelief that Spidey tricked him into thinking he was dead and is also freaking out because the speedboat is now on a collision course with Baxter's ship. Aboard "The Champion", Baxter sees this and it takes the wind out of his sail. Him and his men abandoned ship and the speedboat rams into "The Champion", creating a huge explosion that completely destroys both vessels. Boomerang, who is struggling to get Spidey off of him, which is causing his boot-jets to stutter, is furious and tells Spidey that when word gets out that he blew his client's boat, he'll be through. As he pulls Boomerang down into the water with him, he tells him not to worry about it because he’s already through. Baxter, who is already in the water next to where Spidey and Boomerang drop in is angry at Spider-Man and tells him that he's going to sue him. Spidey replies that nobody ever sued him for busting his scam before and that he is a sore loser. At that point, Baxter realizes that he's lost the race to "The Defiant" and starts whining about how he was the smartest and had a better and faster ship than the competition. Spidey grabs his head and shoves it underwater, telling him to "give it a rest". He then tells him that what makes a real winner is facing a challenge when the odds are against you, when your head wants to quit, but your heart says to do it anyways. As a rescue chopper approaches, Spidey tells Baxter that most people run that kind of race every day but that guys like him and Boomerang don't even cross the starting line.

The end...for now.