Philip Marlowe is hired by General Sternwood to investigate blackmail threats against his daughters Vivian and Carmen. Marlowe discovers that Carmen was at Arthur Geiger's bookstore the night he was shot dead. He learns Geiger was blackmailing Carmen with compromising photos. Marlowe works to uncover who killed Geiger and what happened to Rusty Regan, Carmen's husband who disappeared. It is revealed that Carmen killed both Geiger and Rusty in fits of rage.