In the two seconds after convicted murderer Jim Allen (Edward G. Robinson) is electrocuted, his life flashes before him. During Prohibition, Jim was a construction worker living with his best friend, Bud Clark (Preston Foster). Jim met Shirley Day (Vivienne Osborne) at a dance club, where she feigned interest in him and tricked him into marriage. Unaware of her duplicity, Jim was angered by Bud's attempt to tell him the truth, and a series of violent confrontations led Jim to his dark fate.