George Eastman (Montgomery Clift) is a young man who goes to work for his uncle in a factory, where he meets Alice Tripp (Shelley Winters) and gets her pregnant. George also meets a socialite named Angela Vickers (Elizabeth Taylor) and wants a life with her instead but does not want to tell Alice. Alice cannot get the abortion that George wants her to have. They go boating, argue and struggle, and Alice accidentally drowns. Suspicions mount against George afterwards, giving the district attorney, Marlowe (Raymond Burr), enough evidence to build a murder case against George and win it. George still has Angela on his mind even at the end.