Promoter Frankie Christopher, being grilled by police in the murder of model Vicky Lynn, recalls in flashback: First meeting her as a waitress, Frankie decides to parlay her beauty into social acceptance and a lucrative career. He succeeds only too well: she's on the eve of deserting him for Hollywood...when someone kills her. Now Frankie gets the feeling that Inspector Ed Cornell is determined to pin the killing on him and only him. He's right. And the only one he can turn to for help is Jill, the victim's sister, who's been cool toward him...

After beautiful Vicky Lynn is killed, New York City police question Frankie Christopher, a promoter who sponsored Vicky, "glamorized" her and got her jobs as a model. Especially tough on Frankie is obsessed inspector Ed Cornell, who has never failed to get his man. Jerry MacDonald, a more sympathetic policeman, asks Frankie to tell them how he met Vicky, and Frankie tells his story: One evening, Frankie goes with his friends, fading actor Robin Ray and newspaper columnist Larry Evans, to a lunchroom where Vicky works as a waitress. Impressed with her beauty and ambition, Frankie decides to remake her, take her to all the smart places and put her on top of the world. Soon after, Frankie takes her to the El Chico Club, where Robin and Larry help him to get her invited to the table of the socially influential Mrs. Handel. The first step accomplished, the evening ends with Vicky having been offered two modeling jobs. Vicky then returns home to the modest apartment she shares with her sister Jill, a stenographer. Jill and Vicky argue, for Jill maintains that nothing good can come of taking the easy road to success. After a whirlwind of publicity and offers, Vicky tells Frankie that she has taken a screen test and is going to Hollywood without him. Bitter about her betrayal, Frankie storms out of her apartment and commiserates with Robin and Larry, both of whom have fallen in love with Vicky. As Jill begins relating her side of the story, she informs the policemen that she does not believe that Frankie is guilty of killing her sister. She informs them that before Vicky met Frankie, a mysterious man stalked her, and when Cornell enters the interrogation room, Jill recognizes him as the man who was following Vicky. The police do not believe her story, but she and Frankie are nonetheless released when the assistant district attorney decides that Harry Williams, the switchboard operator at the hotel where Jill and Vicky lived, must be guilty because he has been missing since the murder. After a while, Jill returns to the hotel, where she learns that Harry has been questioned by the police and released because he said that he was visiting his parents. Cornell confronts Jill at her new apartment, accusing her of withholding evidence, and although Jill orders him to leave, she is indeed withholding an angry letter Frankie wrote to Vicky after he found out about her screen test. Determined to find out for herself if Frankie is her sister's killer, Jill spends the evening with him and has a marvelous time. She invites him to her apartment, where she is about to give him the letter when Cornell bursts in, takes the letter and handcuffs Frankie. Jill helps Frankie escape, and after they realize that they are in love, they decide to run away together the next day. After spending the night in an all-night movie theater, Frankie goes to get some money he has hidden in a safety deposit box, and while he is gone, Jill is arrested. Cornell convinces the police chief to free her in the hope that she will lead them to Frankie, but she eludes them and finds Frankie at the theater. They then trace a clue to Larry, who reveals that he took Vicky up to her apartment just before she was killed, and that Harry was not on duty at the switchboard when he left. Their suspicion aroused, Frankie and Jill plan to trap Harry into confessing, which he does. Harry, who was desperately in love with Vicky, also reveals that Cornell knows he killed Vicky, but let him go. MacDonald arrests Harry, while Frankie goes to Cornell's apartment. He is stunned to find that the walls are covered with photographs of Vicky, and on the mantle is a shrine to her. Cornell arrives and bitterly denounces Frankie for "glamorizing" Vicky and taking her away from him, for they had dated a few times and he was hoping to marry her. Cornell drinks poison, and soon the embittered, lonely detective is dead. Later, Frankie and Jill celebrate their marriage by going dancing.