Laura is dead. That's how the movie begins, the titular lead character of the Otto Preminger directorial effort
Laura has been killed. We don't know who this woman is at first but detective Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews) knows some people who are more familiar with her. He begins his investigation into this murder by interviewing people who knew Laura (Gene Tierney) best, including columnist Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb) and fiancee Shelby Carpenter (Vincent Prince). Through these two men, particularly Waldo thanks to an extended flashback sequence stemming from Waldo telling Mark the story of how he and Laura became such close friends, we get to know Laura better and get to see Mark try to figure out who could be behind this murder.
