Jury foreman Edward Weldon's questioning leads to the death sentence for Ethel Saxon. His daughter Stella claims to have killed her lover, the gangster Garboni, just as Saxon was to sit in the electric chair.
Ethel Saxon confesses in court to the murder of her errant husband John in a "crime of passion," and also admits she took his money. Jury foreman Edward Weldon, who believes in obeying the letter of the law, convinces his peers to convict Ethel of first degree murder, despite public sympathy for her cause. On the day of her execution, reporter Bob Nolan bribes idle Joe "LeRoy" Biggers, Weldon's son-in-law, to get him into the Weldon home to see the family's reaction as Ethel is taken to the electric chair. Weldon's daughter Stella has fallen in love with gangster Gar Boni, whom she met at the trial, but that night he tells her he is leaving for Chicago. Learning that he is a gangster only makes Stella more desperate to keep Boni, and she becomes determined to see him before he leaves town. Meanwhile, Ethel's lawyer, Edgar V. Ingersoll, asks Weldon for help in mounting an appeal, but is rejected. Just before the execution, Stella abruptly leaves to say goodbye to Boni, who admits, to her consternation, that their relationship is over. At the same time that Ethel is taken to the chair and the switch is thrown, a shot is fired in the Weldon house. After Nolan reveals his identity and has the family photographed, Weldon steps onto his porch and tells the waiting crowd that murder must be punished. Stella enters, dazed, and announces that she has shot Boni with his own gun. Nolan offers to help, but Weldon insists that the law must be followed and telephones District Attorney Plunkett, the prosecutor in Ethel's case. Before Plunkett questions Stella, Nolan reminds Weldon of how the headlines would read if Stella is found to be a murderer. Plunkett discovers that although Stella only remembered firing one shot, three bullets are missing from Boni's gun. Plunkett dismisses Stella's confession as the product of a nervous condition and speculates that Boni's murder was a gangland killing, that may never be solved.
