Ace newspaper columnist Kathy Ferguson (Barbara Stanwyck) has brains and talent, but she's also got a blind spot: She's in love with a Los Angeles detective (Sterling Hayden). Funneling all her energy into helping her unambitious husband rise up in the ranks, Kathy even offers to bed his boss, Tony Pope (Raymond Burr). When Pope refuses to deliver on his end of the bargain, he winds up dead, and Kathy is the prime suspect.