Jeff (James Stewart)’s Timeline and Summary
- Having broken his leg by doing something really, really stupid, L.B. "Jeff" Jefferies not-so-patiently awaits the day when his plaster cast comes off.
- He begs his editor to send him to Indochina, a region in the midst of violently kicking out its colonial occupiers, despite the fact that he literally cannot stand up under his own power.
- He endures his nurse Stella's needling about his girlfriend, Lisa, then settles in to enjoy his latest hobby: spying on the neighbors through the window.
- Lisa comes over with a fancy dinner to help him make it through the last week of his confinement, but he's not especially nice to her.
- After she leaves, he hears a bloodcurdling shriek coming from the rear window.
- A few hours later, he watches his neighbor Thorwald leave and return to the apartment a couple of times with something odd and heavy in his suitcase.
- Jeff discusses his suspicions with Stella, then settles in with a zoom lens to watch Thorwald packaging up a series of knives and saws.
- Lisa comes over that evening, but he's distracted, despite the fact that she's very interested in kissing his face off.
- Lisa thinks his theories about Thorwald are ludicrous until she sees Thorwald tying up a large trunk across the street.
- The next morning, Jeff gives his police buddy, Doyle, a ring to share what he's found.
- Doyle doesn't find anything suspicious. Jeff thinks it's murder, but Doyle assures him that Thorwald's wife is just off in the country.
- After he leaves, there's a shriek: a neighbor's dog has been killed. Jeff notices that everyone in the neighborhood has come to their windows to watch the commotion … except for Thorwald.
- He spots some strange discrepancies in the garden with the help of some trusty slides, then suggests that Thorwald buried evidence there and killed the dog to keep it hidden.
- Lisa and Jeff conspire to get Thorwald out of his apartment, and then Lisa boosts herself into the apartment to look for clues.
- Jeff and Stella watch helplessly when Thorwald comes back to the apartment and tries to strangle Lisa.
- The police arrive just in time to haul Lisa off to jail and out of trouble, but Thorwald discovers what Jeff is up to and comes to his apartment.
- Jeff holds him off with flashbulbs from his camera long enough for the police to arrive and arrest Thorwald.
- He's back in a cast, with a second one to boot, but he's got his gal, and life looks pretty good as the credits roll.