Rosalind Russell plays Hildy Johnson, a star newspaper reporter still working for her ex-husband Walter (Cary Grant) at a major Chicago newspaper. Hildy has told Walter that she is going to marry her insurance salesman fiancé Bruce (Ralph Bellamy). Unfortunately, Walter doesn't want to lose Hildy to Bruce or to lose Hildy as a reporter. Walter wants Hildy to cover a major story about a convicted murderer Earl Williams (John Qualen). Things get complicated when Williams escapes and Hildy and Walter are hiding him in the prison pressroom.