When young lawyer “Raymond” (Raymond Hackett) is tasked with defending a self-confessed murderess, he tries to learn a little of just what drove her to commit a crime that she won’t explain nor attempt to hide from. It’s that retrospective that introduces us to “Madame X”. She (Ruth Chatterton) was a young woman married to an indifferent man “Louis” (Lewis Stone) whose unkindness drove her into the arms of another man. He died quite quickly afterwards, and her jealous husband forbade her access to their three year old son. Disconsolate, the woman took to a path of destitution and absinthe…