In New York, a man is killed and robbed of $300,000 on his way to a bank night depository. A year later, as Los Angeles police detective Calhoun Bruner is walking home one night, he happens upon a drug store burglary in process, shoots one of the two burglars and arrests the other. The police then discover that some of the money the burglar took is "hot" and from the New York robbery, for which no arrests have been made. When Captain Michaels asks the drug store owner where a particular $50 bill came from, the druggist tells them that he received it, as payment for filling a prescription, from a bartender at a local night club. The next day, Cal and his colleague, Jack Farnham, interview the bartender, who tells them that he borrowed the bill from Lilli Marlowe, a singer who works at the club. Unfortunately, Lilli can only give a very vague description of the drunk who gave her the bill. After more bills show up at the Hollywood Race Track, Michaels asks Lilli to go on a stakeout with Cal and Jack in the hope that she may recognize the man. Although several days at the track prove fruitless, a romance develops between Cal and Lilli. On yet another day at the track, while checking cars leaving the parking lot, Lilli spots the man and Cal and Jack chase after him, but the fugitive's car crashes off the road and he is killed. In the wreck, Cal and Jack find a metal box full of money and Cal takes four wads of bills. Jack does not want to be involved in this theft and after the police investigators leave, tells Cal that they must return the cash, reminding him that it is marked money. However, Cal takes him to a trailer park where he has hidden the money in a small trailer, Number 36, which he has rented, and convinces Jack to go along with his plans. Later, Cal brings Lilli to dinner at Jack's house where she meets Jack's wife Francey and their infant daughter, but is puzzled by the tension between the men as Jack is drinking heavily and is filled with self-loathing. On their way home, Lilli tels Cal that she intends to work in Las Vegas for a while, but he convinces her that they are alike and she decides to stay. The next morning, Michaels tells Cal and Jack that $200,000 of the missing $300,000 was recovered at the accident scene, but he feels that the driver may have had a partner. Later, a man identifying himself as the partner phones Cal, after having seen his name and photo in a newspaper story about the investigation. He demands the money Cal took and blackmails both Cal and Jack. Although Cal and Lilli make plans to leave for Mexico to be married, Jack tells Cal that they they are not going to give the money to the partner but will turn it in to Michaels and come clean. Cal finally appears to agree and they head for the trailer. When Jack leaves the trailer with the cash in a paper sack, Cal attempts to shoot him but is interrupted by the voice of the partner, who accuses them of a double cross. Cal tells the man to shoot Jack, but when he fails to do so, Cal shoots Jack in the back. As he attempts another shot, Cal is shot and killed. Michaels emerges from the shadows, makes Jack comfortable and tells him that one of his men had impersonated the fictitious partner as he had suspected that they had taken the cash.