Michael Barnes is a mystery writer who is accused of causing a fatal car accident. Each eyewitness, however, proves to be unreliable when their testimony is shredded by Barnes who is acting as his own defense attorney. He is exonerated after he shows that each witness only saw what they wanted to see. Ultimately, however, it is revealed that he was not the driver. The driver was his pregnant wife. Barnes arranged to have himself accused because he knew that his wife would not be able to stand the strains of a trial.

Sister Pamela suffers a crisis of conscience just as she is about to take her final vows. Is her belief real or is she just hiding from the rest of the world? The sisters in the convent give her time to think everything over by letting her pick up a valuable statue from a reformed gangster. As she is returning, however, the statue is stolen by a young criminal named Jimmy Bresson. In order to get the statue back she leaves the convent and hunts Jimmy down. She arranges to have a date with him to get into his apartment. Unfortunately, she discovers that he has pawned the statue. She takes the pawn ticket and heads for the pawn shop. As she is about to get it back, Jimmy catches her. Jimmy and the dishonest pawn shop owner want to kill Pamela, but they want to have the statue appraised first. They call an appraiser, but it turns out to be the man who originally offered the statue to the convent. He tells them that the statue is worthless and convinces them to let Pamela go. Having confr

John and Sally Mitchell offer a stranger named Ray Roscoe a place to stay after Roscoe saves the life of their son Tony. When Roscoe turns out to be a womanizing freeloader, they begin to believe that they made a terrible mistake. One night Roscoe wrecks their car and hits on a camper's wife. Angry, John punches him and knocks him to the ground. John is shocked, however, when the camper examines Roscoe's body and declares that Roscoe is dead. The camper suggests that they bury the body in the woods and forget the whole thing. John agrees and lets the camper deal with the body. Later, John is disturbed to discover that the woods are going to be excavated as a part of a new highway construction. Since he doesn't know exactly where the body is, he calls the camper and tells him that they must move the corpse. The camper agrees, but demands $20,000. He tells John that he will go to the police if he does not pay the money.

Over the protests of his wife Eve, Howard Raydon fires Addie the family maid when her son breaks a valuable antique. Unwilling to leave, she poisons Howard's milk and kills him. An autopsy reveals the poison, but Eve is the chief suspect after she is fingered by Howard's mother. Believing that Eve's innocence will come out in trial, Addie remains silent about any wrong doing. Unfortunately, the prosecution reveals that Addie's 'son' is really Eve's son from a previous marriage. They claim that Eve killed her husband to prevent being seperated from the boy. As things begin to look worse for Eve, Addie confesses her guilt in a note and attempts suicide. Her suicide attempt is stopped in time and she is forced to stand trial.

Jim Derry is a hit man who is hired to kill a bookie named Eddie Breech. He begins to have second thoughts when he finds out that Eddie's wife Connie is confined to a wheelchair and is being cheated on by her husband. He talks to the Breechs and agrees to help the two fake Eddie's death so that Derry can get paid for the hit and the two can start over in Mexico. Derry goes to the morgue and aquires a body. He puts Eddies wallet and wedding ring on the corpse and starts it on fire after putting it in a car. Derry gets paid, but is arrested by the police. The police found the car and believe Eddie is dead. Derry tells the police that Eddie is in Mexico. The police then bring Connie into the room. She accuses Derry of shooting Eddie the night before. Derry has been set up. Connie killed her husband and set up Derry to take the fall.

Miles Crawford is a former actor turned lawyer. He gets an oppotunity to practice both professions when his son Tod is arrested an put on trial for murder. Tod is guilty but Miles makes an impassioned summation that manages to sway both the judge and the jury. Unfortunately, the prosecutor is a movie fan and he points out that Miles's summation was lifted word for word from a old movie in which Crawford played a defense attorney in charge of a case very similar to the one he is in charge of now.

Newlyweds Dave and Bonnie Snowden visit the abandoned home of Bonnie's late father. In the home, Dave finds a locked door and comes to believe that there is something valuable inside. Later, Dave and Bonnie tell Bonnie's elderly mother Mrs. Daniels that they are married. Bonnie's mother is convinced that Dave is after her daughter inheritance. She tries to bribe Dave to annull the marriage. Dave refuses, but he is desperate for money. In an effort to convince Bonnie's mother of his good intentions. He convinces Bonnie to fake a suicide attempt by overdosing on sleeping pills. Dave hopes that Mrs. Daniels will see him caring for her and change her mind about him. Unfortunately, Bonnie is allergic to sleeping pills and accidently dies. After the funeral, Mrs. Daniels tells Dave that she has had a change of heart. She gives him the abandoned house. Dave heads to the home and again wonders what is behind the locked door. As he talks to himself,

Charlie Osgood has been robbing his partner Eddie Turtin for years. When Eddie finds out, he threatens to go to the police unless Charlie can give him back what he stole. Determined not to ply, Charlie and his girlfriend Danielle decide to fake Charlie's suicide and then leave the country. Charlie gives Eddie hints of suicide and then throws an explosives laden dummy over a bridge. After blowing up the dummy in the water, Eddie becomes convinced that Charlie is dead. Eddie gives the eulogy at Charlie's memorial service as Charlie heads to the office to pick up his stolen cash. He grabs the money and, afterwards, he and Danielle celebrate with drink. Charlie passes out after the drink and awakens to find Eddie and Danielle. Charlie realizes that he has been set up. Eddie planned to take the money and blame the theft on his dead partner. Eddie and Danielle get rid of Charlie for good by pushing him off a pier and blowing him up in the water.

Ned Murray is a lawyer who gets Lew Rydell off on a murder charge, but later learns that he is guilty. Knowing that Lew cannot be tried twice for the same crime, Ned seeks out other ways to bring the man to justice. He talks to a gangster Tony Hardeman who misinterprets Ned's concern and decides to have Lew killed. Ned suspects that a murder is about to take place and tries to save Lew. He arrives at Lew's house too late and discovers that Lew is still alive. He managed to kill Tony before he could kill him. Ned realizes that he can now have Lew sent to prison since he can now be tried for another murder. Guilt overwhealms him, however, and Ned decides to defend Lew in court once again.

Howard Clements is wrongfully accused of assaulting a woman named Isabel Smith. He is convicted of the crime and is sent to prison for two years. When he gets out of prison he steals $13,000 which is the exact amount he would have earned if he had not been in prison. He then opens a record store in his hometown. He meets Isabel a few times and manages to get a date with her. Eventually the two become engaged. On their honeymoon, Howard sabotages the fuel line of the boat they rented and convinces Isabel to take a ride on it solo. Later, Howard gets hiw revenge when he hears an explosion in the distance. As he returns home, he is stopped by the police who know about his theft and also suspect him of murder.