When middle-aged milquetoast Chris Cross rescues street-walking bad girl Kitty from the rain-slicked gutters of an eerily artificial back-lot Greenwich Village, he plunges into a whirlpool of lust, larceny and revenge. As Chris’ obsession grows, the meek cashier is seduced, humiliated and transformed into an avenging monster before implacable fate and perverse justice triumph in the most satisfyingly downbeat denouement in the history of American film.