An underground gambling joint managed by Danny Haley (Charlton Heston) is closed down by a police raid led by wise cop Capt. Garvey (Dean Jagger) and Danny finds solace with girlfriend Fran Garland (Lizabeth Scott) who works as a night-club torch song singer. Danny is comfortable with Fran but still carries wounds from a former marriage and feels pressured to commit when he doesnt have a stable income. Danny meets former American soldier Arthur Winant (Don DeFore) while visiting Fran at her nightly club performance and Winant tags along with Danny to a late-night poker game. Playing cards with Dannys cohorts ulcerous Barney (Ed Begley, Sr.) and nasty-mouthed Augie (Jack Webb) isnt something Danny enjoys and when the crooked card players rook sucker Winant of five-thousand dollars that he was holding for his company theres a certain satisfaction that theyve made some money. When Winant is discovered the next morning hanged from the chandelier in his hotel room, the news lists it as suicide but Capt. Garvey believes something else is at play and questions Danny about it. When Barney is killed and hanged a general search goes out for the dead Arthur Winants reportedly crazy brother Sidney whom it is believed is tracking down all those responsible and exacting revenge for his brothers losing his money.