A young French woman, Madeline Minot, Leslie Caron arrives in New York in 1848, seeking expatriate Charles Thevenet, Louis Calhern. She is initially turned away at the door by his mistress and housekeeper, Lorna Bounty, Barbara Stanwyck, but persists, presenting Charles with a letter of introduction from his only grandson, Paul, a romantic revolutionary with whom Madeline is in love.
Charles Thevenet Louis Calhern is an old, wealthy, and dissipated rake who correctly guesses Madeline’s purpose in visiting him: she has been sent by Paul to ask for money to support the revolution in France. Assisted by hulking butler, Martin, Joe De Santis, and cook Mrs. Flynn, [Margaret Wycherly](/actor/margaret-wycherly, who are also after Charles’ fortune, having waited for the old man to die for ten years, Lorna lets Charles drink as much as he wants, contrary to the instructions of Dr. Roland, Nicholas Joy, and replaces some prescribed medicine.
Madeline has one ally, a chance acquaintance named Dupin, Joseph Cotten, a heavy-drinking impecunious poet, to whom she turns when she suspects that Charles’ medicine has been laced with poison. They take a sample to a pharmacist, Francis Pierlot, who determines that it has no poison in it, but that the medicine has been substituted with sugar water. Dupin becomes acquainted with Lorna, and recognizes her as a former actress who achieved fame with Charles’ backing.
During her stay at Charles’ residence, Madeline softens the old reprobate’s heart. He summons his lawyer, Durand, Richard Hale, and changes his will. Then he secretly puts arsenic in his drink, ready to end his life. However, he suffers a stroke that paralyzes him, leaving him only partial control of his face. He watches helplessly as Durand drinks the fatal brandy. The will is then snatched up by Charles’ pet raven and hidden in the fireplace. Before the old man dies, he tries to pass along to Dupin the location of the will solely with his eyes.
Lorna guesses that there is a new will and its contents. After the funeral, she and her accomplices search desperately for it without success. Dupin is more perceptive; from the clues, he finds and retrieves the document, though he has to fight Martin off to escape the house alive. When the will is read, it reveals that Paul does inherit the money; Lorna, Martin and Mrs. Flynn are left only the house.
At the end of the film, Madeline goes looking for Dupin to thank him. Dupin’s generous bartender, Flaherty, Jim Backus, tells her he has gone, leaving only a seemingly worthless IOU for his sizable bar bill. On one side is a draft of a verse about a woman named Annabel Lee, and on the other, the IOU’s signature, which reveals Dupin’s real name: Edgar Allan Poe.
