When Amos Hart's wife is accused of murdering her secret lover, he stands by her, hiring a slick lawyer to get her acquitted, then stealing money to cover the cost. While both husband and wife's actions take them outside of the law, Hart acts from a sense of his duty as a husband, while his wife Roxie has no respect for her marriage vows. It is for this, one suspects, more than for the murder, that she must be punished. Although Frank Urson is credited as director, it is in every way a Cecil B. DeMille film, and his sense of showmanship and eye for detail can be particularly felt in Roxie Hart's two trials--by jury and by husband.