Bree Daniels (Jane Fonda) is a prostitute in New York City who aspires to be a model/actress. Along with Jane McKenna and Arlyn Page, she works for pimp Frank Ligourin (Roy Scheider). All three women have scary experiences with a violent customer.Tom Gruneman and his wife host a social gathering at their house in Tuscarora, Pennsylvania. Their guests include Tom's boss Peter Cable (Charles Cioffi) and Tom's best friend/policeman John Klute (Donald Sutherland).Soon after, Tom Gruneman disappears without a trace and the FBI begins an investigation. The FBI agents find a typed letter from Gruneman to Daniels at Gruneman's office. Daniels is contacted and she confirms that she had received several letters from Gruneman, but does not remember him when shown a photograph. Daniels is arrested for prostitution. When released, she severs her relationship with Ligourin and begins to make all her own contacts with customers. She moves into a small apartment and begins to worry that someone is following her.After several months of investigating Tom Gruneman's disappearance, the FBI come to a dead end. Peter Cable hires John Klute to go to New York City and continue the investigation.Klute moves into a basement apartment in the same building where Daniels lives. He taps her telephone and records her telephone conversations. He then contacts Daniels and asks for her help in solving Gruneman's disappearance. Although initially reluctant, Daniels eventually cooperates with Klute. They fall in love.Klute learns that Jane McKenna (one of Frank Ligourin's three former prostitutes) is dead. Then Aryln Page (another of the three former prostitutes) is found dead.As Klute's investigation continues, it becomes evident that:
(1) Peter Cable was the man who had mistreated Bree Daniels and the other two prostitutes of Frank Ligourin;
(2) Cable had used Tom Gruneman's name when he was with the prostitutes;
(3) Cable had murdered Tom Gruneman when Gruneman discovered his violence with prostitutes;
(4) Cable had murdered Jane McKenna and Arlyn Page;
(5) Cable had recorded the sexual encounters and murders on a small tape recorder; and (6) Cable wants to kill Bree Daniels.It is unclear why Cable thought it necessary to try to frame Gruneman (by planting the typed letter to Daniels in Gruneman's desk) or why Cable hired Klute to continue the investigation when the FBI had come to a dead end.Cable attempts to kill Daniels, but Klute arrives just in time to save Daniels and kill Cable.Daniels moves to Pennsylvania with Klute.
Who does Daniels fall in love with?
Klute