Ashamed that his father lived a life of crime, hard-boiled New York City cop Mark Dixon (Dana Andrews) has a reputation for being too tough on criminals. So when Dixon unintentionally kills a murder suspect during a routine questioning, he hides the fact from the department and tries to pin the killing on his nemesis, notorious gangster Scalise (Gary Merrill). The snag in the cop's plan comes when his boss wrongly accuses the father of Dixon's love interest, Morgan (Gene Tierney), of the murder.