Friend Tim Winthrop asks criminal lawyer and amateur detective Clay Dalzell to find his girl, Alice, who disappeared a year earlier without a trace. When they go to the theater with Clay's would-be fiancée, Donna Mantin, Tim recognizes the star, Mary Smith, as his girl, and yells "Alice," after which she bolts from the stage and disappears once again. Reporter Tommy Tennant knows why she bolted, but before he can tell Clay the reason, he is shot dead and Clay is wounded slightly in Clay's apartment. The many suspects include Roger Classon and his wife, Jerry, who are looking for Alice to testify and save Roger's friend from the electric chair for a murder he didn't commit; Abe Ohlman, the producer of Mary's show; and gangster Jimmy Kinland who seems to know more than he's telling. It's up to Clay, with the help of Donna, to trap the murderer and find Alice.