Their conversation is interrupted by a phone call from Elster, and while Scottie updates him on Madeleine's condition, Madeleine departs. When Scottie then asks her if she has ever been to the art gallery containing Carlotta's portrait, she states that she has not, confirming Elster's assertion that she does not remember her wanderings to places connected to Carlotta.

Scottie takes the unconscious Madeleine to his apartment to recover and when she awakens, she claims to have no memory of the incident, although she does recall being at Fort Point. When Madeleine suddenly throws herself into the water, Scottie jumps in and rescues her. Later, Scottie again follows Madeleine, with whom he has become obsessed, as she goes to the museum and then to Fort Point underneath the Golden Gate Bridge. Elster insists that Madeleine, who owns several pieces of Carlotta's jewelry, including the distinctive necklace she wore while sitting for her portrait, has become possessed by Carlotta. Elster reveals that Carlotta was Madeleine's great-grandmother, but when Scottie declares that it would be natural for Madeleine to become obsessed with her ancestor, Elster asserts that while Madeleine's mother told him the truth, she never told Madeleine for fear of upsetting her with the knowledge of insanity in their family. The next day, Scottie tells Elster of his findings, and Elster confesses that he knew about Carlotta but did not tell Scottie in order not to prejudice him. Scottie is intrigued when Pop states that Carlotta's mansion eventually became the McKittrick Hotel. After their child was born, however, the man took the child and deserted Carlotta, who went mad and committed suicide. Pop relates that Carlotta was a young beauty, reared in an old mission and romanced by a rich, older man who built a mansion for her. Scottie then goes to Midge's and when he asks about sources of information about old San Francisco, she takes him to see bookstore owner Pop Leibel. When Scottie searches the room, however, Madeleine has disappeared. The landlady, who knows Madeleine as Carlotta Valdes, tells Scottie that 'Carlotta' comes to the hotel for a few hours several times a week. Upon learning that the painting is called 'Portrait of Carlotta,' Scottie follows Madeleine as she drives to the McKittrick Hotel, where she enters a room on the second floor. Scottie is stunned to see that the nosegay Madeleine carries is an exact duplicate of the one in the portrait, and that she even wears the same hairstyle as the painting's subject. Scottie then follows Madeleine to the Palace of the Legion of Honor art gallery and watches as she sits motionless in front of a portrait of a young woman. After Madeleine departs, Scottie reads the gravestone, which belongs to Carlotta Valdes, who died in 1857 at the age of 26, the same age as Madeleine. Seeming to be in a trance, Madeleine then goes to the cemetery of the old Mission Dolores and stands before a grave. Scottie is awed by Madeleine's beauty and the next morning, follows her as she leaves home and goes to a flower shop to buy a nosegay. That night, Scottie goes to Ernie's, a popular restaurant, so that he can see Madeleine for the first time as she dines with her husband. Although Scottie is reluctant to become involved, Elster convinces him that he needs a friend to observe Madeleine before he commits her to a mental institution. Scottie is baffled by Elster's claims that Madeleine has been having blackouts and seems to be possessed by someone from the past.

Elster informs Scottie that he is worried about his young, blonde wife Madeleine, whose rich family built the business that Elster runs. Scottie meets with Elster at his office near the waterfront, where Elster oversees a shipbuilding business. One day, Scottie tells Midge that he has been contacted by Gavin Elster, an old college friend. Although Scottie hopes to overcome his phobia, his longtime friend, Midge Wood, an artist who is in love with him, cautions him that only a severe emotional shock might snap him out of it. San Francisco police detective John 'Scottie' Ferguson is forced to retire after he is involved in a rooftop chase and his acrophobia and accompanying vertigo leads to the death of a fellow officer.

Vertigo cast