In 1941 Los Angeles, private detective Philip Marlowe is hired by bank robber Moose Malloy to find his old girlfriend Velma, whom he has not seen in seven years while he has been in prison. Malloy goes to ground after killing the new owner of the nightclub where Velma used to work. Using a photo supplied by Velma's old nightclub friend Tommy Ray, Marlowe traces her to an insane asylum but when he breaks the news to Malloy, he discovers that the photo supposedly of Velma was really of a different woman.