Fredric March plays Calvin Cooke, a by-the-book judge confronted with an agonizing dilemma when his beloved wife Cathy (Florence Eldridge, March's real wife) is diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor.
Medication is unable to control Cathy's unbearable pain, so Judge Cooke somewhat impulsively commits what he intends as an act of murder-suicide, driving his car off the road on a rainy night while Cathy is obliviously sleeping.
Cathy dies, but the judge survives, and when he's physically recovered he turns himself in on a murder charge. A dedicated defense attorney (Edmond O'Brien) dating the Cookes' daughter (Geraldine Brooks) is appointed by the judge (John McIntire) hearing the case to represent Judge Cooke.
An autopsy raises the question of whether the judge actually killed his wife after all...but even so, he meant to do it.
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