A retired San Francisco detective suffering from acrophobia investigates the strange activities of an old friend's wife, all the while becoming dangerously obsessed with her.

Madeleine: Only one is a wanderer; two together are always going somewhere.
Scottie: You shouldn't keep souvenirs of a killing. You shouldn't have been that sentimental.
Scottie: And then what did he do? Did he train you? Did he rehearse you? Did he tell you exactly what to do, what to say? You were a very apt pupil too, weren't you? You were a very apt pupil! Well, why did you pick on me? Why me?
Madeleine: Here I was born, and there I died. It was only a moment for you; you took no notice.
Judy: If I let you change me, will that do it? If I do what you tell me, will you love me?
Scottie: Yes. Yes.
Judy: All right. All right then, I'll do it. I don't care anymore about me.
[last lines]
Nun: God, have mercy.
Scottie: One final thing I have to do... and then I'll be free of the past.
Coroner: He did nothing. The law has little to say on things left undone.
Scottie: I love you, Madeleine.
Madeleine: I love you, too. It's too late.
Scottie: No, no, we're together.
Madeleine: It's too late. There's something I must do...
Scottie: [kisses her passionately] No, there is nothing you must do. There is nothing you must do. No one possesses you. You're safe with me.
Madeleine: [frantically] No, it's too late
[Madeleine breaks free and runs across the courtyard. Scottie trails behind her, eventually catching up to her. He holds her tightly]
Madeleine: Look, it's not fair. It's too late. It wasn't supposed to happen this way. It *shouldn't* have happened...
Scottie: But it had to happen. We're in love. That's all that counts!
Madeleine: [struggling] Look. Let me go! Please let me go!
Scottie: Listen to me. Listen to me.
Madeleine: [calmly] You believe I love you?
Scottie: Yes.
Madeleine: And if you lose me, then you'll know I, I loved you. And I wanted to go on loving you.
Scottie: I won't lose you.
Madeleine: Let me go into the church - alone.
Scottie: Why?
[they kiss for the last time. Scottie releases his grip and Madeleine walks away towards the bell tower]
Gavin Elster: Scottie, do you believe that someone out of the past - someone dead - can enter and take possession of a living being?
Scottie: Midge, who do you know that's an authority on San Francisco history?
Midge: That's the kind of greeting a girl likes! Not this "Hello-you-look-wonderful" stuff, just a good straight "Who do you know that's an authority on San Francisco his - -"
[interrupted]
Scottie: I hope we will, too.
Madeleine: What?
Scottie: Meet again sometime.
Madeleine: We have.
Madeleine: There is something I must do, there is something I must do.
Scottie: There is nothing you must do. There is nothing you must do.
Scottie: Anyone could become obsessed with the past with a background like that!
Judy: Couldn't you like me, just me the way I am? When we first started out, it was so good; w-we had fun. And... and then you started in on the clothes. Well, I'll wear the darn clothes if you want me to, if, if you'll just, just like me.
Scottie: The color of your hair...
Judy: Oh, no!
Scottie: Judy, please, it can't matter to you.
Madeleine: Oh Scottie. I'm not mad. I'm not mad. I don't want to die. There's someone within me and she says I must die. Oh Scottie, don't let me go.
Scottie: I'm here. I've got you.
Madeleine: I'm so afraid.
[Scottie and Madeleine kiss]
Madeleine: Don't leave me. Stay with me.
Scottie: All the time.
Scottie: [to Judy, after being taken to the scene of Madeline's death] No, no. I have to tell you about Madeleine now. Right there.
[Pointing]
Scottie: We stood there and I kissed her for the last time, and she said, 'If you lose me you'll know that I loved you and wanted to keep on loving you.' And I said, 'I won't lose you.' But I did.
[pause]
Scottie: And then she turned and ran into the church. I tried to follow, but it was too late.
Midge: You want to know something? I don't think Mozart's going to help at all.
[first lines]
Officer on rooftop: Give me your hand. Give me your hand.
[to Scottie]
Gavin Elster: There's no way for them to understand. You and I know who killed Madeleine.
Scottie: What's this doohickey?
Midge: It's a brassiere! You know about those things, you're a big boy now.
Scottie: I've never run across one like that.
Midge: It's brand new. Revolutionary up-lift: No shoulder straps, no back straps, but it does everything a brassiere should do. Works on the principle of the cantilevered bridge.
Scottie: It does?
Midge: An aircraft engineer down the peninsula designed it; he worked it out in his spare time.
Scottie: Kind of a hobby, a do-it-yourself kind of thing!
Gavin Elster: She'll be talking to me about something. Suddenly the words fade into silence. A cloud comes into her eyes and they go blank. She's somewhere else, away from me, someone I don't know. I call her, she doesn't even hear me. Then, with a long sigh, she's back. Looks at me brightly, doesn't even know she's been away, can't tell me where or when.
Scottie: How often does this happen?
Gavin Elster: More and more in the past few weeks. And she wanders - God knows where she wanders. I followed her one day, watched her coming out of the apartment, someone I didn't know. She even walked a different way. Got into her car and drove off to Golden Gate Park. Five miles. Sat by the lake, staring across the water at the pillars that stand on the far shore. You know, Portals of the Past. Sat there a long time without moving. I had to leave, get back to the office. When I got home that evening, I asked her what she'd done all day. She said she'd driven out to Golden Gate Park and sat by the lake, that's all.
Scottie: Well.
[Scottie gets up]
Gavin Elster: The speedometer on her car showed that she'd driven ninety-four miles. Where did she go? I've got to know, Scottie, where she goes and what she does before I get involved with doctors.
Midge: I talked to the woman in musical therapy, and she said that Mozart's the boy for you.