Blind Spot

In New York, disheveled alcoholic novelist Jeffrey Andrews leaves his cluttered apartment to confront his publisher about a pay dispute. He barges into Henry Small's office, pushing past secretary Evelyn Green as Small and mystery writer Lloyd Harrison confer. Small refuses to raise the advance and suggests Andrews write more marketable books, while Harrison counters that a story must be logically solved.

Within Small's office, Andrews offers a plot outline for a whodunit in exchange for a cash advance. Small declines, but Harrison pushes for the idea, praising Andrews's psychological approach. Andrews improvises a locked-room murder on the spot, though he withholds how the victim was killed and the killer escaped.

After leaving, Andrews retreats to a bar in the office building to discuss the imagined plot with the bartender. He doesn't notice Harrison nearby as he talks. Evelyn arrives later with a torn dress, revealing she admires Andrews's work, and they chat.

Back in Small's office, Andrews discovers his contract in the file drawer and tears it up, severing his formal ties. Sometime later, detective Lieutenant Fred Applegate arrests Andrews on suspicion of murdering Small, whose body is found in his inner office, locked from the inside.

Applegate questions the drunkenly memory-impaired Andrews about the ending of his imagined plot. Evelyn is nowhere to be found during the questioning. Harrison arrives at the crime scene and suggests that Applegate should release Andrews so he can reveal how the murder was committed.

That night, Andrews sneaks out to locate the bartender. A night watchman escorts him to the bartender's apartment, where he discovers the bartender has been killed. When Andrews finds Evelyn's earring beside the body, the watchman shoots him, but Andrews escapes.

Andrews returns to his apartment, now under police surveillance. He finds Evelyn there; they are wary and suspicious of each other, though Evelyn claims to have fallen in love with him.

In a diner, Andrews confronts Evelyn and identifies her as the mate to the earring he found, deciding to hand her over to the police, even though Evelyn doesn't know about the bartender's murder.

On their way to the police station, Andrews discovers a check written to him by Small. He deduces that Small had planned to purchase Andrews's story and that Harrison was present at that time.

Andrews and Evelyn confront Harrison in his apartment, but Harrison tries to cast doubt on the story and prompts Andrews to remember the locked-room solution.

Police arrive and arrest Andrews. At the station, he confesses to Small's murder out of frustration, but he cannot recall the bartender's murder; Applegate suspects Evelyn.

The night watchman enters and reveals that Harrison had been in the bar on the night of the murder, giving him time to kill Small. The watchman pulls a gun on Harrison, but Andrews disarms him; Harrison retrieves his pistol and is shot by Applegate.

Before dying, Harrison confesses to killing Small and the bartender to cover his tracks, claiming Small threatened to expose him for ghostwriting. Harrison's confession closes the circle on the motive and the bartender's murder.

Andrews and Evelyn leave the station together as the sun rises. The dawn light underscores that the truth remains elusive and their future is uncertain.