Genial shopkeeper Philip (Charles Laughton) has to endure the constant nagging of a shrewish wife (Rosalind Ivan) while he secretly yearns for a pretty young stenographer (Ella Raines). When the henpecking gets to be too much, Philip murders his wife and manages to make her death look like an accident. A ruthless blackmailer (Henry Daniell) and a low-key detective (Stanley Ridges) both discover Philip's secret, and he has to decide which of them poses the more dangerous threat.