Bjorn Faulkner has swindled millions of dollars from investors, by investing cash he did not have in order to control the gold trade. In the wake of a crash, he is facing bankruptcy despite the injection of money by Mr. John Graham Whitfield, a prominent banker whose daughter, Nancy Lee Faulkner, married Faulkner shortly after the loan. On the night of January 16th, Karen Andre and Bjorn are in the penthouse at the top of the Faulkner Building in New York when Faulkner falls to his death. The purpose of the play is to decide if it may have been a suicide — or murder. Karen Andre is placed on trial on charges of having murdered Faulkner. She is being prosecuted by Mr. Flint and defended by Mr. Stevens. Within the three acts of the play, the two lawyers call upon a number of witnesses, including doctors, security of the Faulkner building, private investigators, the coroner, and a notorious gangster, where each of their testimony build to contradictory stories.
