Roxie Hart, Phyllis Haver watches Velma Kelly, Julia Faye perform Overture/All That Jazz at The Onyx, a neon-lit Chicago nightclub where dreams of stardom shimmer in the smoke and music. Seeking fame, Roxie enters a fraught liaison with Rodney Casley, Eugene Pallette, a furniture salesman who swears he knows the right people. After the curtain falls, Velma is arrested for killing her husband and sister, caught in bed with them, and Roxie’s envy begins to fester in the glow of the spotlight she craves. A month later, Casley admits to Roxie that his connections were a lie to woo her, and in a surge of rage she shoots him dead.
She convinces her gullible husband, Amos Hart, to take the fall by claiming she killed a burglar in self-defense, hoping to shield her own secret. But when evidence of Roxie’s infidelity surfaces, Amos recants and tells the police that Casely was already dead when he got home, a truth that could destroy her case. Roxie is arrested, and the district attorney declares she faces execution by hanging, turning a private tragedy into public spectacle.
In Cook County Jail, Roxie is sent to Murderess’ Row, a grim wing overseen by the corrupt Matron Mama Morton, May Robson. There she hears the harrowing backstories of the other inmates and discovers that Velma remains the gold standard of infamy she can never quite surpass. On Morton’s advice, Roxie hires Velma’s seasoned lawyer, Billy Flynn, Robert Edeson, to craft a sensational defense and polish her image. Flynn and Roxie spin a story that paints her as a virtuous Southern girl corrupted by the city’s decadence, insisting the affair with Casely happened because Amos was always working, and that Casely attacked her in a jealous rage.
The press latches onto the tale, turning Roxie into an overnight sensation with the hit tune “Roxie.” Velma, losing the public’s attention, tries to lure Roxie into a rivalry-steeped act, but Roxie rejects the old queen of crime and pushes forward alone. When wealthy heiress Kitty Baxter is arrested for murdering her husband and his two mistresses, the media and Flynn pivot to her case, but Roxie counters by declaring pregnancy, boosting sympathy and keeping the spotlight on her.
Amos is largely ignored by the press (“Mister Cellophane”), and Flynn urges him to divorce Roxie by convincing him that the baby is Casely’s. Roxie, frustrated by Flynn’s grip on her fate, contemplates firing him, believing she can win on her own. Yet the brutal reality of the law dawns when Katalin Helinszki, a Hungarian inmate, becomes the first woman in Cook County history to be executed by hanging, and Roxie realizes the peril she faces if she loses control of the narrative. She rehires Flynn, recognizing she needs his showmanship more than ever.
The trial begins, and Flynn turns it into a media circus, aided by sensational reporters and the flamboyant Mary Sunshine. He discredits witnesses, manipulates evidence, and stages a staged reconciliation between Amos and Roxie when she claims the child is his. The trial’s momentum shifts when Roxie’s diary is discovered and read aloud, but Flynn sabotages it—arguing that its legal language suggests it could have been planted by Harrison to taint the case—and the diary is dismissed as admissible evidence. Roxie is acquitted, though the victory is short-lived as another woman who shot her own lawyer is maimed outside the courthouse.
Flynn later confesses that he tampered with the diary to blacken the DA and free two clients, a confession that shadows Roxie’s triumph. Amos remains devoted and thrilled to become a father, yet Roxie coldly reveals that she faked the pregnancy, shattering his trust. Undeterred, Roxie continues to chase a vaudeville career, her notoriety tempered by uneven success (Nowadays). Velma approaches again, proposing a joint act for two infamous murderesses, a pitch Roxie initially rejects but eventually accepts when she sees the potential to reclaim the spotlight together. The two finally stage a dazzling performance of Nowadays/Hot Honey Rag, receiving a thunderous standing ovation from Flynn, Morton, jurors, and other acquitted inmates who share the stage with them.
