A successful insurance salesman returns to his office late one night. Visibly in pain, he begins dictating a confession. The story, told primarily in flashback, involves a beautiful, yet dangerous, woman, Phillys Dietrichson. The two met when her husband's insurance policy expired. Widely regarded as a classic, it is often cited as a paradigmatic film noir that has set the standards for that genre. Raymond Chandler got inspiration from "The postman always rings twice" by James M. Cain.