Editing Rear Window (section)

== Plot ==
Professional [[photojournalist]] L.B. "Jeff" Jefferies, recuperating from adventurous assignment-related injuries, in a cast from his waist to foot, is confined to a wheelchair in his [[Greenwich Village, Manhattan|Greenwich Village]] apartment. His mid-floor rear window looks out onto a courtyard with small garden plots, surrounded on four sides by apartments in adjoining buildings. Jeff is regularly visited by Stella, a cynical, middle-aged nurse, and his couture-dressed young girlfriend, Lisa Fremont, a model and socialite.

[[File:Rearwindow trailer 1.jpg|thumb|left|267px|James Stewart as L. B. Jefferies who watches his neighbors out of boredom while confined to a wheelchair.]]
[[File: Grace Kelly Rear Window promo.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.75|Grace Kelly as Lisa Fremont, in a couture gown, who Jeff cannot imagine roughing it in casual clothes.]]

During a [[heat wave]], Jeff watches his neighbors through open windows, including a professional dancer coined "Miss Torso"; a songwriter with writer's block; a spinster who pantomimes dates with pretend suitors, "Miss [[Personal advertisement|Lonely-Hearts]]"; and traveling [[costume jewelry]] salesman Lars Thorwald, who is hen-pecked by his bedridden wife. One night, Jeff hears a woman scream followed by the sound of breaking glass. Later that night, Jeff wakes as a thunderstorm breaks; he observes Thorwald making repeated excursions carrying his aluminum sample case. After Jeff has fallen asleep, Thorwald leaves his apartment along with a woman obscured by a large black hat.

The next morning, Jeff notices Thorwald's wife is gone and sees him cleaning a large knife and handsaw. Movers haul away a large trunk. After surveilling with binoculars and a camera with a [[telephoto lens]], Jeff grows suspicious of Thorwald's activities. Convinced that Thorwald has murdered his wife, he first tells Stella, who becomes morbidly interested in the case, and then Lisa, who doubts him until they notice that Thorwald's wife is no longer in bed and the mattress is rolled up.

Jeff calls detective Tom Doyle to request that he investigate Thorwald. A skeptical Doyle investigates extensively, finds nothing suspicious, and posits that Thorwald had sent his wife on a vacation upstate. Temporarily mollified by this explanation, Jeff and Lisa begin to question their "rear window ethics". Later that night, however, a neighbor’s dog is found dead in the courtyard; the previous day Thorwald had chased the dog away from digging his garden flowerbed. The dog's alarmed owner cries out, drawing the attention of everyone except Thorwald, who sits furtively in his dark apartment. Now convinced his theory is true, Jeff looks at slides taken two weeks earlier and notices that Thorwald has re-planted flowers in his garden, possibly to bury a body part. 

The following night, Jeff telephones to lure Thorwald away from his apartment, enabling Lisa and Stella to investigate Thorwald's flowerbed. Finding nothing, Lisa decides to climb into Thorwald's open window to search his apartment. Stella hurries back to Jeff. 

While Lisa is searching, Jeff and Stella are distracted watching Miss Lonely-Hearts contemplating an overdose; they call the police. Coincidentally, the songwriter has finished his song "Lisa," playing it loudly; enthralled by the tune, Miss Lonely-Hearts abandons her suicide attempt. In the interim, Thorwald unexpectedly returns early and catches Lisa, who cries out. The operator finally connects Jeff with the police, and he reports that a man is assaulting a woman at Thorwald's apartment. The police arrive to intervene as Lisa and Thorwald scuffle. During police questioning, Lisa signals to Jeff that she is wearing Mrs. Thorwald's wedding ring. Seeing this, Thorwald realizes Jeff is surveilling his apartment. Lacking proof to accuse Thorwald of murder, Lisa is arrested for [[Burglary|breaking and entering]].

Jeff phones Doyle and leaves an urgent message while Stella bails Lisa out of jail. Locating Jeff’s apartment, Thorwald attacks him; Jeff’s only defense in a darkened apartment is snapping camera [[Flash bulb|flash bulbs]] in Thorwald’s eyes. While they grapple, Doyle and other officers arrive, followed by Lisa and Stella. Police apprehend Thorwald just as he drops Jeff out of his window. Thorwald confesses his wife's murder to the police.

A few days later, the heat wave has broken, and life in the apartment complex has returned to normal. Miss Lonely-Hearts is seen socializing with the songwriter in his studio apartment while he plays music. Having broken his other leg in the fall, Jeff is still wheelchair-bound, now with both legs in casts. Lisa is seen stretched out next to him, wearing more casual attire and reading a travel book. After noticing Jeff asleep, she puts aside the book on exploration titled ''Beyond the High Himalayas'' and turns instead to read ''[[Harper's Bazaar]]''.