Adopted from James Ellroy's crime novel, this film is set in 1940s Los Angeles, where a young female actress, Elizabeth Short (Mira Kirshner), is found brutally murdered. The investigation is taken up by two police detectives, Dwight Bleirchert (Josh Hartnett) and his partner Lee Blanchard (Aaron Eckhart), who have a mutual love, Kay (Scarlett Johansson). Things get complicated when Dwight gets lead astray by Madeline Sprague (Hilary Swank), who had connections with Elizabeth.