Drug pushing and gambling set the stage for murder in The Sleeping City, a hardboiled film noir thriller shot on the streets of New York. When a doctor is shot dead outside Bellevue Hospital, detective Fred Rowan (Richard Conte) is assigned to find the killer. Posing as an intern, Rowan is befriended by the hospital's elevator operator (Richard Taber) and a ward nurse (Coleen Gray) he begins to date. As his investigation continues and potential witnesses wind up dead, Rowan finds himself next on the murderer's list when he uncovers a narcotics ring. Suddenly, everyone is a suspect and he doesn't know whom he can trust!