Ed Adams (Alan Ladd) is a reporter for a Chicago newspaper. By chance he is in a boardinghouse just when the body of a dead woman is found by a cleaning lady. The body belongs to a beautiful female tenant named Rosita Jean d'Ur (Donna Reed). Ed is drawn to the dark, mysterious woman, and manages to steal her diary before the law gets to the scene. In the diary Rosita has listed a total of fifty-four names.