Reuniting with director Siodmak after their success with Ernest Hemingway's The Killers (1946 film), Burt Lancaster plays Steve Thompson, a man who seals his dark fate when he returns to Los Angeles to find his ex-wife Anna Dundee (Yvonne DeCarlo) eager to rekindle their love against all better judgment. He resumes his old job as a driver at an armored-truck company.