The murder of a prostitute, who is also a German agent, draws the attention of Major Grau of German Intelligence, who discovers that the evidence points to three top-ranking Nazi generals. After following leads, Grau winds up in Paris and discovers that two of the generals are deeply involved in a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. Grau's case will go unfinished for twenty years until the true killer is brought to justice.

Terry Malloy is a washed-up ex-prize fighter corrupted along with brother Charley at an early age by a ruthless Mob-connected union boss named Johnny Friendly, who runs the waterfront. Malloy is now an errand-boy for the union, while Charley (in return for a college education) is now a lawyer for them. Malloy assists in the killing of a longshoreman who was talking to the crime commission investigating the union. He soon meets the dead man's agonized...