- A slick con man arrives in a small town looking to make some money, but soon gets more than he bargained for.
- Eric Stanton (Dana Andrews), thrown off a bus for not having the fare, begins to frequent a diner called "Pop's Eats" , whose main attraction is a beautiful waitress by the name of Stella (Linda Darnell) seems disinterested in Eric, he decides if he had money she would pay attention to his advances. He marries June Mills ( Alice Faye ) for her money, and Stella is mysteriously murdered. Even though June learns of Eric's dishonest plans, she still loves him. It is with her support that he investigates the killing on his own, eventually discovering the shocking identity of the real killer.—Marc Andreu <mandreu@mediapark.es>
- Eric Stanton is a penniless drifter whose smooth talk, which includes telling little white lies, gets the occasional free meal here and bed in which to sleep there. Wanting to get from Los Angeles to San Francisco, he, on his limited funds, is only able to get as far as the coastal town of Walton, 150 miles shy of his intended destination. Beyond getting that food and shelter, he plans to make enough money in Walton to get out of town as quickly as he came. He changes his plan when he meets Stella, a waitress a Pop's Diner, she a young, beautiful but world wary woman who wants a better life for herself. That beauty is what attracts her to man after man who hangs out at Pop's, they including aged Pop himself, former New York City Police Inspector Mark Judd who moved to the west coast with his wife for health reasons, Dave Atkins, who stocks the jukebox at Pop's, and now Eric himself. Despite all the others clamoring for her time and attention, Eric believes he can be the one to win her by convincing her to marry him when he comes into a financial windfall. Using his association with Professor Madley, a traveling charlatan psychic with who he made a connection when he first arrived in town, Eric discovers that the Mills sisters, Clara and June, are worth $25,000, that windfall money which he plans to swindle especially out of younger June by romancing her. The problem is now more suspicious Clara who lost a good deal of the family wealth in being previously taken by someone much like Eric himself. Eric's plan hits an obstacle when he is possibly implicated in murder.—Huggo
- Eric Stanton, a penniless drifter, falls in love with Stella, who works in a small-town coffee shop. She refuses to marry him because of his poor financial condition. Desperate for money, Eric marries a wealthy local spinster, who he plans to divorce. His plans go awry when someone ends up dead and he's the prime suspect...—Paul Donahue
- While traveling to San Francisco, the drifter Eric Stanton is thrown off a bus late night in Walton for not having enough money for the ticket. He wanders to the "Pop's Eats" diner, where he meets the sexy waitress Stella, an easy woman who usually dates clients after-hours. Eric has a crush on her but Stella tells him that he doesn't have enough money to make her happy. Eric decides to seduce the lonely June Mills, a wealthy woman living with her controlling sister, Clara, in order to get more money and so end up with Stella. Eric goes to San Francisco with June and Clara, and marries June. They return to Walton and on their wedding night, Eric sneaks out in the hopes of meeting up with Stella but she already has a date for the night. The next morning, Stella is found murdered and the brutal investigator Mark Judd is assigned to the case. When Eric becomes the prime-suspect, he investigates the murder seeking the identity of the real killer.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Eric Stanton (Dana Andrews) walks into Walton, California when he is ejected from a cross-country bus when he can't come up with the fare. Stanton is a down-and-out press agent with a baggage full of cynicism. When he wanders into a local diner he meets Stella (Linda Darnell), a god-digger waitress who has come back from some bust up with a bad boyfriend. Stanton manages to talk his way into promoting Professor Madley (John Carradine), a performing mentalist who is scheduled to perform a show in town in the upcoming days. When Stanton gets involved in promoting Madley, he meets June Mills (Alice Faye), a wealthy, cultured young woman who lives with her older sister. Stanton is intrigued by the raw sexual appeal of Stella but is also drawn to the homey nature of June and he stays in town neglecting the offer from Professor Madley to travel with him as his show promoter. When Stanton makes a play for Stella she makes it clear that he must offer her marriage and a good life before she'll open up to him. June is also interested but her appeal from the start is far more substantial as a spiritual bond that also includes marriage. Stanton tells Stella that he'll marry June, get her money and come back, so he and Stella can go away together. Stanton and June marry much to the dismay of June's sister. When on their wedding night Stanton runs off to a liaison with Stella, she rebuffs him, and he returns to June patiently waiting to take him back. Mark Judd (Charles Bickford), a retired cop from New York, settled in Walton appears the next morning to question Stanton about Stella, as she was murdered the night before, shortly after Stanton had seen her. After brutally interogating Dave Atkins (Bruce Cabot), one of Stella's regular boyfriends, Judd focuses his attention on Stanton as the murderer. Stanton leaves town for San Francisco with June by his side. As they hole up in a cheap hotel, June and Stanton are finally able to find common ground, and Stanton understands how and why he must change his ways. June is picked up by police and returned to Walton, and is charged with Stella's murder. When Stanton returns to Walton he confronts Judd with new evidence to free June and point to the real murderer.
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