the movie tells the story of a photographer l. b. "jeff" jefferies (played by james stewart) who has a broken leg. he spends his days sitting in his greenwich village apartment watching his neighbors through their open windows. there is a ballet dancer miss torso, a pianist and songwriter, a couple with a dog who digs the flowers up, a newly married couple, 'miss lonelyhearts', and a jewelry seller lars thorwald with his bed-ridden wife. lisa fremont (played by grace kelly) is jeff's girlfriend and visits several times. a nurse stella (played by thelma ritter) also takes care of jeff.