<P> Vincent Parry, a man convicted of killing his wife, has escaped from San Quentin prison by stowing away in a supply truck . He evades police and hitches a ride with a passing motorist named Baker . Parry's odd clothes and a news report on the radio about an escaped convict make Baker suspicious . When questioned, Parry beats him unconscious . Irene Jansen, who had been painting nearby, picks up Parry and smuggles him past a police roadblock into San Francisco, offering him shelter in her apartment . </P> <P> An acquaintance of Jansen, Madge, comes by Irene's apartment . Parry, without opening the door, tells her to go away . Madge was a former romantic interest of Parry's whom he had spurned . Out of spite she testified at his trial, providing a motive as to why he would have killed his wife . When she returns, Irene explains that she had followed Parry's case with interest . Her own father had been falsely convicted of murder, and since then she has taken an interest in miscarriages of justice . She believes that Parry is innocent . </P> <P> Parry leaves but is recognized by a cab driver, Sam . The man turns out to be sympathetic and gives Parry the name of a plastic surgeon who can change his appearance . Before the operation, Parry goes to the apartment of a friend, George Fellsinger, for help in proving his innocence and arranges to stay with him during the recuperation from surgery . Dr. Coley performs the operation . Parry, unable to speak, his face wrapped in bandages, returns to George's apartment only to find him murdered . He stumbles back to Irene's house, collapsing at her doorstep . Irene nurses him back to health . </P> <P> Madge and her ex-husband Bob, who is romantically interested in Irene, come by . Madge is worried that Parry will kill her for testifying against him and asks to stay with Irene for protection . Irene gets rid of Madge and deflects Bob by saying that she has already met someone to whom she is attracted, "Vincent Parry". She feigns that she is lying, but actually she is telling the truth, as Parry hides in a bedroom . Bob takes Irene's statement as a joke, but accepts that Irene is interested in another man . </P>

Cast of movie a shot in the dark