Nancy Drew (Bonita Granville) is the daughter of prominent attorney Carson Drew, and she has a few things she can teach him about the justice system. When a local paper sponsors a contest asking for story submissions from school children, Nancy takes it very seriously. She decides to report on the inquest of the death of a woman who was poisoned. Believing the young woman accused of the murder to be innocent, Nancy enlists the help of her neighbor Ted and together they expose the identity of the real killer.