Sir Wilfrid Robarts is finally going to retire after having a near-fatal heart attack. However, as soon as he returns to the office, Robarts receives a request from Leonard Stephen Vole to represent him in the murder case of Miss Emily French. Robarts believes he is innocent and agrees to the job.

The case is a difficult one, but Robarts finally wins with the help of a mysterious woman who was supposedly friends with Vole's cold wife, Christine. After the trial is over, though, Christine reveals that she and Vole tricked Robarts, and she was actually the mysterious woman.

When Vole tells Christine that he will be going away with another woman, she is extremely angry and murders him. Robarts feels that the murder was justified, and he and his nurse, Miss Plimson, go away to begin work on the defense of Christine Vole, the betrayed wife of...