Classic '40s noir starring Veronica Lake. A hit man, called Raven (Alan Ladd), is double-crossed by nightclub owner Willard Gates (Laird Cregar) who acts as a middleman for a traitorous industrialist Alvin Brewster (Tully Marshall). Traveling to Los Angeles to kill his way to the top of his betrayers, Raven meets up with Ellen Graham (Veronica Lake) a nightclub magician and singer. Graham's been enlisted by a senator to use Gates to find out who is making deals to manufacture poison gas for the Japanese. Ellen's fiance Lt. Michael Crane (Robert Preston) tries as best he can to keep up, tracking Raven while wondering if his girlfriend has been kidnapped or is a willing accomplice.