When a classified ad grabs the attention of Chicago Times editor Brian Kelly (Lee J. Cobb), he sends ace reporter P.J. McNeal (James Stewart) to dig up new evidence in the 11-year-old case of a cop killer: It appears that Frank Wiecek (Richard Conte) has taken a fall and been wrongly imprisoned for the murder. Although hard-nosed McNeal is initially skeptical, he eventually believes that Wiecek was, in fact, a patsy. And although McNeal hits one dead end after another, the avid newsman never gives up the search for justice for the innocent Wiecek...

An absorbingly intelligent film noir, adapted from true events as reported in the 1930s articles of James P. McGuire.