Like most of Hitchcock's predecessors, Vertigo's plot revolves around an elaborate conspiracy. Gavin Esther was a shipbuilder and his wife Madeline was a wealthy woman. In order to defraud a huge inheritance, Esther devised a conspiracy to murder his wife. He first picks detective Scottie (James Stewart), who suffers from acrophobia, and tells him that Madeleine is possessed by one of her ancestors who committed suicide, and hires him to keep his wife safe. Scottie stalks his wife. Little did Scotty know that he was stalking Judy, Madeleine's stand-in, a murder accomplice hired by Gavin to play the soul-possessed character. Scottie is fascinated by this mysterious woman, he sees "Madeleine" in various abnormal behaviors, and rescues her in time when she is about to commit suicide by jumping into the sea. "Madeline" then tells Scottie an "event in her memory" that appears to be a memory of her dead ancestor. Scottie described taking her to St. Juan Baptist Church, thinking this was what "Madeleine" remembered, but she disagreed. She left Scotty and climbed to the top of the church tower, which Scotty tried to stop, but the dizziness caused by the fear of heights left him powerless. Esther dropped the real Madeleine at the top of the tower, and Scotty, who left the church in fear, became his alibi. After the police officer who rescued him fell to his death at the beginning of the film, Scotty failed to prevent Madeleine's "suicide" because of his fear of heights. The double blow made him fall into depression, and the first paragraph of the film ended.
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