Centring on the activities of a gang of assorted criminals and, in particular, their leader – a vicious young hoodlum known as "Pinkie" – the film's main thematic concern is the criminal underbelly evident in inter-war Brighton.
Two small boys are playing in a wood. The younger boy has a revolver and, not understanding that the gun differs from his toy pistol, plays 'highwayman' on the road and holds up a cyclist; the gun goes off, killing the cyclist. Both boys are unaware of the tragic consequences of their game. The body and the gun are found by Bob Carter, who had recently quarreled with the victim in the presence of their workmates, and both men had uttered threats. The evidence is strong, and Bob is arrested for murder...
Unable to recall the past 24 hours, a British bank clerk is the prime suspect for a robbery/murder.
Impoverished British bank clerk John Ross is hopelessly in love with drop-dead gorgeous Irene James. Ross will do anything to win Irene's affections - including embezzlement. She ends up marrying him, but she can't give up her true love, slimy counterfeiter Jimmy Smart...
Detective Inspector Campbell (Gordon Jackson) looks into the murder of a teacher at a girls school where there are a number of suspects, including her colleagues and the married man she had been seeing.
Bill Saunders, a former prisoner of war living in England, whose experiences have left him unstable and violent, gets into a bar fight in which he kills a man and then flees. He hides out with the assistance of a nurse, Jane Wharton, who believes his story that the killing was an accident.
Detectives Jonas and Erik are called to the midnight sun country of northern Norway to investigate a recent homicide, but their plan to arrest the killer goes awry, and Jonas mistakenly shoots Erik. The suspect escapes, and a frightened Jonas pins Erik's death on the fugitive. Jonas continues to pursue the killer as he seeks to protect himself; however, his mounting guilt and the omnipresent sun plague him with an insomnia that affects his sanity.
“Shorty” Matthews having recently been released from prison visits his girlfriend in London only to discover her murdered. Fearing he will be wrongly accused of being the culprit he disappears amongst the long-distance lorry driving community. Meanwhile, the real killer, unassuming ex-schoolteacher Walter Hoover, continues to prey on London women. As Shorty had feared he has become the main suspect. He returns to London with old flame Molly to prove his innocence.
A man falls in love with a beautiful young woman and begins to suspect that he may have also loved her in a previous life.
Two Los Angeles homicide detectives are dispatched to a northern town where the sun doesn't set to investigate the methodical murder of a local teen.
A young boy is blackmailed by a crook who saw him unwittingly cause his friend's death.