Side Street

Joe Norson loses his gas-station job and takes a part-time mail route in New York City. In a moment of desperation, he rationalizes stealing what he thinks is a small amount from a lawyer's office on his route to help his pregnant wife Ellen. He later discovers the money is actually a $30,000 stash taken from Victor Backett, a corrupt attorney, triggering a dangerous chain of consequences.

Panicked by his discovery, Joe tells Ellen about the windfall as if it were payment from an out-of-town job. He disguises the money as a parcel and leaves it with bartender Nick Drumman, hoping to handle it without drawing attention. The act binds him to a dangerous web of criminals who will soon come looking for the cash.

Lucille Colner is found strangled in the East River, triggering a high-profile homicide investigation. Captain Walter Anderson questions Emil Lorrison and Victor Backett as the case unfolds. Lucille's love diary reveals connections to the powerful circle around the money.

After the birth of his son, Joe tries to return the stolen money to Backett, hoping to end the nightmare. Backett suspects a trap and refuses the offer, instead sending Georgie Garsell and a taxi driver to retrieve the cash. The stakes rise as the criminals close in on Joe.

Backett's men discover that Drumman substituted a nightgown for the cash and has gone into hiding with the money. Joe's package is no longer a simple delivery, and the bartender's location becomes a dangerous new target. The search for the missing fortune intensifies as the clues lead deeper into the criminal web.

Joe escapes as the net tightens, hoping to locate the bartender and retrieve the money. Georgie Garsell tracks Drumman down first, strangles him, and recovers the cash. The act pulls Joe further into the murder investigation and criminal chase.

Joe confesses the original theft to Ellen, who urges him to surrender to the police. However, the confession backfires as he becomes a prime suspect in Drumman's murder. The couple's trust strains under the weight of the criminal charges now bearing down on them.

Determined to clear himself, Joe searches for the source of the money while Captain Anderson pursues Georgie Garsell for Lucille's murder and Joe for Drumman's. The pursuit spreads through the city as clues push the investigation toward a breakthrough. Tension builds as the criminals and the police close in on the truth.

Joe locates Harriet Sinton, Georgie's girlfriend and a singer, hoping she can expose the truth. She betrays him to Garsell, who plans to murder Joe to silence the last witness. In a brutal turn, Harriet is strangled by Garsell to eliminate her as a possible testimony.

Captain Anderson closes in as the manhunt spills into the streets of New York in the early morning hours. The chase becomes a dangerous sprint through alleys and traffic as the evidence points toward Joe and Georgie. The city becomes a stage for a tense pursuit that will determine fates.

Garsell in the taxi forces Joe to drive and kills the taxi driver to prevent surrender. Joe deliberately crashes the taxi to throw off the pursuit, turning the escape into a desperate act. The plan unravels as the authorities move in on the wreckage.

Garsell is killed in the exchange of gunfire with the police, and Ellen arrives to find Joe gravely injured but alive. She embraces him as he is loaded into an ambulance, offering a beacon of hope amid the chaos. The couple's endurance is tested as crisis finally begins to ease.