John Muller, medical school dropout and brilliant crook, plans a holdup which goes a little bit wrong, and finds vindictive gambler Rocky Stansyck after him. At the end of his tether, he stumbles onto a lucky chance to assume an impenetrable new identity as psychiatrist Victor Bartok. But irony piles on as Muller finds it's out of the frying pan, into the fire.
Eager to land a journalistic position, Adam White goes to work as an advice-giving newspaper columnist. His editor, Shrike, takes pleasure in browbeating his alcoholic wife Florence for her past adultery, and assigning his employees journalistic jobs for which they have little aptitude or interest. Shrike goads Adam into meeting one of his correspondents, Fay Doyle, a teary, self-pitying woman who makes a play for him. Adam is torn between his loyalty to the newspaper and his girl Justy.
弗朗西斯(安·托德 Ann Todd 饰)自幼失去了父母沦为孤儿,被监护人尼克尔斯收养,两人过着相依为命的生活。尼克尔斯在弗朗西斯的身上发现了极高的音乐天赋,于是送她去罗伊尔音乐学院深造。在那里,弗朗西斯邂逅了名为皮特的年轻人。尼克尔斯认为两人之间的这段感情会影响弗朗西斯的学业,于是将她带去了巴黎,很快,才华横溢的弗朗西斯就在巴黎获得了极高的声望,最终成为了红极一时的钢琴家。 回到伦敦之后,弗朗西斯遇见了画家马克斯维尔,两人很快就坠入了情网之中。占有欲极强的尼克尔斯当然反对这段感情,无奈之下,弗朗西斯决定和恋人私奔。
艾伦(贝特西·德雷克 Betsy Drake 饰)在旅途中结识了名叫杰夫(罗伯特·杨 Robert Young 饰)的建筑师,杰夫曾经就差一点要和未婚妻携手步入婚姻的殿堂了,在这个节骨眼上,他的未婚妻因为意外去世了。自此之后,杰夫性情大变,喜怒无常,宛如患上了精神分裂症一般。 不仅如此,厄运似乎从此就跟上了杰夫,他接二连三的失去了人生中他认为非常重要的东西,还丢掉了工作。艾伦认为这一切是有人在背后捣鬼,当她想要找出幕后的罪魁祸首时,杰夫的心理医生告诉她,杰夫也许患上了非常严重的妄想症,如果继续和他接触的话,艾伦会有生命危险。