Curio collector James Douglas is shot dead and his statue, the "jade lady," worth $250,000, is stolen. Following the murder, crooked curio dealer Alfred Kester tries to get the statue from blonde Rose Dawson, as does a man named Terry Blake, who offers her $10,000 for it, and a thug named Ox Welsh. Ox warns Rose that if she does not turn over the statue, he will hurt her sister. Later, Ox threatens Blake, who is staying at a flophouse, but Blake is saved by "The Shadow," a mysterious crime-fighter, who is investigating Douglas' murder. Rose asks The Shadow, who she knows is Lamont Cranston, for help in finding the missing jade lady. After Lamont, who lives at the Broadmoor Arms apartments, hears a scream in a neighbor's apartment, he finds a woman passed out and a man dead. Before Lamont can take action, he is knocked unconscious. When he revives, painter's model Gilda Marsh identifies the unconscious woman as Anne Walsh, and the dead man as Kester. Later, Anne accuses Lamont of Kester's murder, even though the gun that was used to kill him belonged to her. Police commissioner Weston, Lamont's uncle, has him released. Later, at the apartment of artist Jon Field, Ox demands at gunpoint that Gilda give him the jade lady that night. Then Lamont's fiancée, Margo Lane, and her maid, Jennie, discover Anne's body. When Lamont catches Gilda searching Anne's apartment, she hits him with a pistol and flees. Lamont then learns from Rose that Ox, Anne, Kester and Gilda were all guests at a party at Field's apartment before the murder, and that one of them killed Douglas. Police inspector Cardona arrives, and Lamont promises to recover the jade lady by the following night, when all gather for Lamont's summation of the case: Ox made a deal with Field to steal the statue and kill Douglas; Anne and Kester were killed because they knew Ox; and Field stole the statue. Lamont later found the jady lady in a funeral urn in Field's apartment. Blake is revealed to be an insurance detective. He gives the $20,000 reward for the return of the statue to Lamont, who turns it over to Cardona for the police fund. Cardona is anxious to arrest Ox, but Lamont explains that he is guilty only of the theft and the Douglas murder. Field, Lamont explains, stole the statue from Ox, and Rose got involved in order to protect her sister Anne, Ox's wife. As Lamont announces that it was Gilda who shot Anne and Kester, she pulls a gun, but is disarmed and arrested.