William Bendix is the small town sheriff who resists the attempts of an insurance investigator to get to the bottom of an apparent suicide. Dennis O'Keefe, as the investigator, doesn't believe it was a simple case of suicide especially since the dead man was universally hated by the close-knit community, and heavily insured. In this classic suspense tale the much-loved town doctor, who really did kill the heel, has died of a heart attack.