How to Murder Your Wife

Stanley Ford is a successful newspaper cartoonist who enjoys bachelorhood in a New York City townhouse with his loyal valet, Charles. He enacts the adventures of Bash Brannigan in real life to keep the comic authentic, while Charles photographs the events to use as visual references when drawing.

At Tobey Rawlins's bachelor party, Stanley becomes intoxicated and unexpectedly marries a mysterious Italian woman who appears from a cake, in a drunken ceremony performed by a faulting judge. The next morning, he wakes to find his naked wife sleeping beside him and bitterly regrets the impulsive union.

The new wife does not speak English, making separation difficult. Stanley consults his lawyer Harold Lampson, who explains that a divorce is not easily obtained without a legal justification.

The cheerful, affectionate wife begins learning English by spending time with Edna, Harold's manipulative wife who speaks fluent Italian. Through Edna's influence, she picks up her ways as well, while Charles resigns to take the jilted Rawlins's offer.

Charles resigns from Stanley's service and accepts a new job with Tobey Rawlins, leaving Stanley to adjust to the domestic upheaval and a growing presence at home.

Stanley finds his bathroom filled with beauty products and lingerie as his wife keeps a yapping little dog. She announces that her mother will be coming from Rome to live with them, adding to the escalating domestic chaos.

Frustrated by the lack of privacy, Stanley shifts his comic strip from espionage to a domestic household comedy called The Brannigans. Despite the change in theme, the strip remains wildly popular with readers.

To gain privacy, Stanley calls a meeting of his all-male health club. Edna alerts Mrs. Ford, who suspects Stanley's activities, and Mrs. Ford sneaks into the club to confront him. Stanley is banned for violating the club's policy of no women.

Stanley conceives a plan for Brannigan to kill his wife and hide her body in concrete beside his townhouse to revive his agent career. He enacts the events live by drugging his wife at a cocktail party and staging her burial with a department-store mannequin.

The next morning, Mrs. Ford discovers the finished comic strip and, heartbroken, leaves the house with only her dog. Her departure foreshadows the unraveling of Stanley's carefully constructed alibi.

After the strip's publication, Mrs. Ford disappears and Stanley is arrested and charged with murder. His own comic strips become prosecution evidence, and he must defend himself in court.

Stanley argues that the act was justifiable homicide, appealing to the all-male jury's frustrations about their marriages. He is acquitted unanimously, and the courtroom erupts in wild applause as he is carried out.

Returning home with Charles, Stanley notices that his wife may have returned, but Charles warns that killing again would be double jeopardy. He discovers her naked in bed inviting him to join, signaling a new, risqué turn in their relationship.

Mrs. Ford's mother arrives with her daughter and is unpacking, and she shares a tooth-gap similarity with Charles, hinting at instant chemistry between them. Breaking the fourth wall, Charles closes the door, leaving the future open to the audience.