Holed up with a broken leg, photojournalist L.B. “Jeff” Jeffries (James Stewart) is confined to his small courtyard apartment. And it is surely hot. Luckily for him, his too perfect other half, Lisa Fremont (Grace Kelly, never lovelier), is on hand to help out in his sticky situation. Meanwhile, Jeff takes to wielding his binoculars and telephoto lens to observe the comings and goings (and a possible murder) at the other courtyard apartments. Everyone else is trying to beat the heat: one neighbor sunbathes, another dances in her apartment wearing the bare minimum, and an older couple drag their mattress onto the fire escape. Even a storm can’t wash away the stickiness. “You’d think the rain would’ve cooled things down,” says Jeff’s physical therapist Stella (Thelma Ritter). “All it did was make the heat wet.”
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