这部电影试图创造引起兴趣的神秘气氛,可是不很成功。拉德星(Ladd) 是保罗马卫(Donlevy) 的得力助手,后者为当地投票者组织的老大。通过对下流罪犯睁一只眼闭一只眼,和给些甜头他们,保罗建立了自己的势力,而罪犯瓦尔纳(Calleia) 也受了他不少恩惠。后来,保罗决定改邪归正,支持建议改革的州长候选人拉尔夫亨利,因为他对亨利的女儿珍妮(Lake) 有意思。当保罗试图阻止他年青的妹妹(Granville) 和珍妮喜欢豪赌的哥哥泰勒(Denning) 交往时,事情变得很可怕了。其后,泰勒被谋杀了。现在,拉德星得决定是否帮保罗一把,证明他的清白,不然罪犯瓦尔纳和他的报界朋友们会捏造不实之罪使保罗入狱,来报复保罗以前带给他们的麻烦。During the campaign for reelection, the crooked politician Paul Madvig decides to clean up his past, refusing the support of the gangster Nick Varna and associating to the respectable reformist politician Ralph Henry. When Ralph's son, Taylor Henry, a gambler and the lover of Paul's sister Opal, is murdered, Paul's right arm, Ed Beaumont, finds his body on the street. Nick uses the financial situation of The Observer to force the publisher Clyde Matthews to use the newspaper to raise the suspicion that Paul Madvig might have killed Taylor.