Plot summary

Private investigator Lew Harper skips the appointment to sign his divorce papers when asked to search for multi-millionaire Ralph Sampson, who has disappeared after flying into Los Angeles. Sampson's wife Elaine is physically disabled and wants to be sure he is not squandering the fortune she hopes to inherit. Harper interviews Allan Taggert, Sampson's private pilot, and his flirtatious daughter Miranda. An old photo of a glamorous starlet in Sampson's bungalow leads Harper to Fay Estabrook, now an aging alcoholic. Harper gets her drunk to see if she is connected to Sampson's disappearance. When she passes out, he encounters the armed Dwight Troy, Fay's husband, who falls for Harper's cover story that he is just a lovesick fan of the former star.Having intercepted a call at Fay's, Harper tracks down Betty Fraley, a lounge singer. When he asks about the missing Ralph, she recognizes his voice and has the bouncer Puddler take him out to beat him in a back alley, but Taggert arrives and knocks Puddler unconscious. Taggert then joins Harper as they head back to Troy's house to check on the truck Betty warned Fay to head off on the phone. Harper leaves Taggert standing watch outside, but the truck is warned off and gets away when Taggert shoots at it, though it leaves distinctive tire marks in the dust.Elaine now receives a message from Ralph, asking her to cash in $500,000 worth of bonds and Harper deduces that he has been kidnapped. Driving to a remote mountaintop property that Sampson previously had given to Claude, a bogus holy man for his cult's temple, Harper evades attempts to distract him and finds a huge kettle of beans cooking, as well as the familiar tire prints.Back at the Sampson estate, Harper finds a ransom note with instructions to drop the cash that night outside town. Harper sends Taggert and Albert Graves, Sampson's attorney, to deliver the cash while he keeps watch. During the ransom drop, the man picking up the money is shot dead and the cash is taken by someone in a white convertible. A matchbook on the body leads Harper to The Corner, a seedy bar where Harper charms the barmaid into revealing that the dead man was Eddie, a regular customer who had made a long-distance call from the bar three nights before. Outside, Harper spots Puddler driving the truck that earlier escaped him, which he follows back to Claude's temple. There he uncovers a smuggling operation of illegal immigrant labor run by Troy. Harper is caught and questioned by Troy, who knows nothing of the kidnapping or Eddie's part in it but realizes the white convertible belongs to Betty Fraley.When Puddler takes Harper to a dockside location, Harper manages to escape and kill the pursuing Puddler. Harper suspects that it was Taggert, Betty, and her brother Eddie who kidnapped Sampson. When questioned, Taggert pulls a gun on Harper but is shot by Graves, who arrives just in time. Harper then goes looking for Betty at her cottage and hears her being tortured by Troy, Claude and Fay. Harper bursts in when she reveals where the money is hidden, shoots Troy and slugs Claude unconscious; locking Fay in a closet, he helps Betty to escape. When Harper tells Betty that Taggert, her secret lover is dead, she reveals that Sampson is being held in an abandoned oil tanker. Harper calls Graves to meet them there but, as Harper searches the ship, he is knocked unconscious from behind. Sometime later Graves revives Harper and they discover that Sampson has recently been killed. Meanwhile, Betty has driven off in Harper's car and, as they pursue her along a hillside road, she is killed when the car swerves down an incline.Harper and Graves retrieve the money and Graves drives Harper home. On the way, Harper tells Graves he knows he was the crooks' secret partner and killed Sampson. Harper tells Graves that he has no choice but to turn him in and that Graves will have to shoot him to stop him. But when Harper gets out and walks to his front door, Graves cannot bring himself to shoot and Harper raises his arms in resignation.