The working title of this film was Love Story; perhaps that was too cynical, even for film noir. Barbara Stanwyck made a career out of playing career girls trying on marriage for size, and by 1957, no one portrayed the disappointment better than she. Here she is a successful lovelorn columnist who gives up a choice job for the love of policeman Sterling Hayden, who offers her a life in suburban Los Angeles. Boredom more than anything else inspires her to further her husband's career by instigating an affair with his boss, Raymond Burr. Things don't stay boring for long.