A fictionalized account of the career of jazz singer Ruth Etting (Doris Day) and her tempestuous marriage to gangster Marty Snyder (James Cagney), who helped propel her to stardom.

In her autobiography, Doris Day wrote that to prepare herself for one of the terror scenes, she recalled a time when her first husband, trombonist Al Jorden, dragged her out of bed when she was ill and pregnant and hurled her against a wall. Day related that in the scene she wasn't acting hysterical, she was hysterical, and at the end of the take, she collapsed in a real faint. She was carried to her dressing room, and Producer Ross Hunter shut down production for a few days while she recovered.

Doris Day vowed to never make another thriller after this movie, claiming it emotionally drained her. She stayed true to her word. Until her retirement eight years later, the only movies she made were comedies.