Frank Johnson (Ross Elliott), sole witness to a gangland murder, goes into hiding and is trailed by Police Inspector Ferris (Robert Keith), on the theory that Frank is trying to escape from possible retaliation. Frank's wife, Eleanor (Ann Sheridan), suspects he is actually running away from their unsuccessful marriage. Aided by a newspaperman, Danny Leggett (Dennis O'Keefe), Eleanor sets out to locate her husband. The killer is also looking for him, and keeps close tabs on Eleanor.

After San Francisco artist Frank Johnson witnesses the gangland murder of informant Joe Gordon while walking his dog, Inspector Ferris attempts to take him into protective custody. Afraid that he will be killed if he testifies against the murderer, Frank instead runs away. Ferris questions Eleanor, Frank's estranged wife, about her husband, but she offers little help. Ferris does convince Eleanor, however, that Frank would be safer in police custody than alone on the streets. Later that night, Eleanor sneaks out of her apartment and goes to a nightclub in Chinatown. She is followed there by tabloid reporter Dan Leggett, who offers to pay her $1,000 for exclusive rights to Frank's story. Upon returning home, Eleanor is told by Ferris that Frank has a serious heart condition, and without the necessary medication, could suffer a fatal heart attack. The next morning, Eleanor sees Dr. Hohler, who tells her that Frank's heart condition is complicated by hypertension, which Eleanor assumes has been caused by the stress of their troubled marriage. She then goes to the department store where Frank works as a window dresser, and learns how well liked he is by his co-workers. Afterward, Eleanor evades police surveillance with the help of Danny, who gives her a cryptic letter from her husband. In the letter, Frank asks Eleanor to meet him at the spot "where I first lost you," but she is unable to figure out the exact location. Eleanor and Danny then visit various locations where the married couple had argued, but are unsuccessful in finding Frank. Later, Eleanor and Danny go back to the Chinatown nightclub, where Suzie, a dancer, tells Danny that Frank gave her a picture of a man that looked very much like Danny. While Eleanor questions Sullivan, a bartender at a nearby saloon, about her husband, Danny goes back into the nightclub, kills Suzie and takes the picture. Later, while back at the department store, with Danny, Eleanor notices various mannequins made in her likeness and remembers a trip to Carmel, during which Frank first "lost her" when his mermaid sculpture of her was destroyed by an ocean wave. Soon thereafter, Eleanor and Danny are taken by Ferris to the morgue, and she falsely identifies another murder victim as Frank. The two then head to Carmel, where they see Frank making sand sculptures near an amusement park. Danny then asks Eleanor to send Frank to meet him alone under the roller coaster, where he plans to kill him. While evading the police, Eleanor suddenly realizes that Danny is the killer, but she is stuck on the roller coaster and is unable to warn her husband. Rather than shooting him, Danny tries to induce Frank into having a heart attack, but is shot and killed by Ferris. Eleanor and Frank are then reconciled, determined to give their marriage another try.