一个性感但贫穷的年轻女孩嫁给了一个她不爱的富人，但却为另一个男人点燃了火炬。

拉里·海恩斯，一个平庸的杂耍艺人，登上了开往洛杉矶的火车。在船上，他遇到了一位迷人的金发英国特工，胸针里藏着一条密码信息，正被纳粹特工追捕。

A psychiatrist's patient, a nutty heiress, travels west to find gold in her grandfather's abandoned mine. The psychiatrist, unable to talk her out of it, decides to follow her out there.

Cary Grant plays gambler, Joe Adams, who takes on the identity of a dead gangster in order to avoid the draft. Adams plans to use a war relief charity to get his gambling operation up and running, until he falls in love with Lorraine Day and has a change of heart.

Rip Murdock and Johnny Darke are en route to Washington when Johnny disappears and then turns up dead. Rip learns that Johnny had been accused of murder and sets out to find out what he can. He falls in love with Coral whose husband Johnny is supposed to have killed.

当一位受伤的前狱友来寻求帮助时，早已改过自新的史蒂夫·莱西面临了新的人生选择。

在监狱服刑的5年期间，乔尼·科雷（Sterling Hayden 饰）想出一条绝妙的抢劫计划。出狱后，他集结一帮非法之徒，共同策划抢劫赛马场的两百万美元巨资，并且做到“无一人伤亡”。然而智者千虑，必有一失。乔尼天衣无缝的计划得以顺利实施，却被同伙乔治（Elisha Co ok Jr. 饰）的老婆谢莉（Marie Windsor 饰）打乱。她得知丈夫的计划后，联合情夫沃尔（Vince Edwards 饰）向巨款伸出贪婪之手……
本片根据里昂努·怀特（Lionel White）的小说《Clean Break》改编的，库布里克担任编剧，并请来著名小说家吉姆·汤普森修改了对白部分。