Realistic crime drama with Humphrey Bogart as a crusading District Attorney out to crush the Mob. All his witnesses are being murdered before they can testify, until he interviews Teresa Davis, roommate of the latest victim. When Bogey realises that it was Teresa who witnessed the gangland murder, he races against time to get to her before the Mob. The film makes use of an intricate web of flashbacks attempting to show the (then largely unknown) structure of an organised crime syndicate.