The bodies of farmer Fred Morgan and his housekeeper are found. Suspicion falls on hired hand George Braden, who owns a handgun that his pregnant wife Ellen disposes of in a panic.
Braden confesses under the interrogation of district attorney Jim Gillespie, possibly to spare his wife any more grief. Doug Madison is assigned the case in court, but doesn't believe in Braden's innocence until he sees Ellen diving into the lake, attempting to retrieve the gun.
Madison's fiancée doesn't want him defending an unpopular client because it could harm his political future. A diver hired by Madison makes a play for Ellen, and when he is fired, he suggests Madison is romantically involved with Ellen.
After a conviction and death sentence for Braden, it comes to Madison's attention that an ex-con named Max Verne had worked for the dead man and made threats after being dismissed. Madison ends up in a race against time to prove Braden's innocence before he is executed.[3]
Film critic Howard Thompson in The New York Times wrote: “Even with fairly thoughtful direction by Don Seigel, in addition to some nice raw photography throughout, this offering sacrifices substance of plain conviction for standardized suspense.”[4] Thompson attributes the film’s inadequacies to the screenplay by Doane H. Hoag and Karen DeWolf, which moves the action “along familiar lines with the usual sideline nod to romance and an absurdly grotesque and obvious killer dragged to the fore just in the nick of time.”[5] Praise is reserved for cinematographer John Alton, whose camerawork showcases “the solitariness of the figures against lake backgrounds, night skies, and highlighted interiors for dramatic effect.”[6]
