Drifter Frank Chambers accepts a job from the alcoholic owner of a diner in a town he's hitchhiking through. Frank and Cora, the diner owner's young wife, quickly start a romance, and Cora convinces Frank the only way they can be together is for Frank to kill her husband, Nick, and collect the insurance money. 

A botched first plan leaves Nick in the hospital suspecting nothing about the affair but resolved to sell the diner and take Cora away. Desperate to do away with Nick, Cora and Frank stage an automobile accident, in which Nick is killed. But the suspicious district attorney pits the two of them against each other by charging only Cora and enticing Frank to sign a complaint against her. Some elaborate legal maneuvering keeps Cora out of jail and allows reconciliation with Frank. But their hopes of being together and starting a family are shattered when a second automobile accident destroys any hope they have for a decent life.

Masterfully adapted by Jon Jory from James M. Cain's taut, noir novel, the play has retained the searing characterization and suspense that made the book a noir classic.