 Based on the play "Red Gloves" by Jean-Paul Sartre which appeared on Broadway with Charles Boyer in the role of "Hoederer." A young intellectual, Hugo (Daniel Gelin), joins the Communist Party out of a sense of idealism, only to see his principles manipulated by party leaders. He is given the assignment of killing Professor Hoederer (Pierre Brassuer), a party deviationist. However, he grows to admire the man and begins to have doubts about morals and revolutionary politics. But jealousy---Hugo thinks Hoederer has made love to his wife, Jessica (Monique Arthur)---takes matters out of the political realm.