A newspaper man, Mark Chapman (Broderick Crawford), takes over an ailing New York daily newspaper, the ''New York Express'' and, by staging a number of publicity stunts, revives it as a scandal sheet. Chapman's wife, whom he years before deserted and left penniless, resurfaces and threatens to tell everyone who he is and what he has done to her, including driving her to attempt suicide. The two physically fight and he accidentally kills her, then tries to cover it up. From her purse, he retrieves money and a pawn shop receipt. When her body is discovered, the paper's star reporter, Steve McClearly (John Derek), begins investigating what has been determined to be a murder. As McClearly is joined by feature writer Julie Allison (Donna Reed), and they begin to dig deeper, the noose begins to tighten around Chapman's neck.