Edie Phillips attends the funeral of Frank DeLorca, a man she loved and lost to her twin sister, Margaret. Margaret, who has not seen Edie in the 18 years of her marriage, invites Edie to her mansion to catch up. Edie is tense and bitter, taking in Margaret's opulent life and her carefree attitude which shows no grief for her recently departed husband. Revealed from their conversation are the facts that Margaret married Frank because he got her pregnant, though the child died within a year, and that Edie had moved from San Francisco to L.A. and covertly watched Margaret and Frank all these years.
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Driven home in Margaret's limo, Edie learns from the chauffeur that there had never been a child. That night, Edie's beau, Sgt. Jim Hobson, shows up to celebrate her birthday by giving her a watch, but says he can't stay as
he's on the job later. Edie then learns from the landlord of her nightclub that she's three months behind in rent and that he wants her out by the end of the month as there's another customer ready to move in with a year's rent money in advance. Edie hatches a plan. She copies her sister's hairdo and calls Margaret to come over. She confronts her with the lie about the child. Margaret confesses she lied so she could marry Frank. Edie's revenge is to kill her and switch identities by swapping looks/clothes and leaving a suicide note signed "Edie" in her sister's hand. It's a close call as Hobson stops by on his job to tell Edie he's able to get off early and take her out. Edie tells him her sister's visiting and is able to send him away.
Impersonating Margaret, Edie deals with the police and Sgt. Hobson regarding "Edith Phillip's suicide and the case is closed. All seems clear for her until Tony Collins shows up. Collins, Margaret's gigolo lover, soon discovers the truth about Edie and begins blackmailing her. Hobson happens
by the DeLorca place to talk about Edie's gravestone and sees Collins manhandling Edie-Margaret, so when he overhears at the office that Collins is trying to sell expensive jewelry to a dealer, his suspicions are up and he joins in snooping around Collins' apartment. They find the jewelry and also a suspicious bag of white powder. Edie has to back up Collins' story that they are lovers and that she gave him the jewelry, but is stunned to learn that the powder is arsenic, capable of inducing the heart attack that Frank
DeLorca died of. When Collins tells her that he and Margaret had murdered Frank to get his money, it's a Mexican standoff until a fortuitous accident gets Collins out of the picture. The irony is that having murdered her sister, Edie as Margaret now must face murder charges for killing Frank
DeLorca. Will she come clean at last? And can she turn to Hobson for help?
