Novelist Raymond Chandler's hard-bitten private detective, Philip Marlowe, investigates the disappearance of two wives in a film noir1940s Los Angeles. One woman may have run away with a gigolo; one may be dead ... but who is the Lady in the Lake? A simple missing-persons case rapidly draws Marlowe (Robert Montgomery) into a deadly web of greed and murder. Marlowe knows he should feel empathy for the missing women, but as a detective, he's hear too many lies and seen too much deceit. Now he only cares because he's paid to, and he knows his investigation will reveal secrets that will destroy everyone involved before the case is solved. The film is shot to show everything through Marlowe's eyes.