Impact
The San Francisco, California-based millionaire industrialist Walter Williams (Brian Donlevy) has a younger wife, Irene (Helen Walker), who is trying to kill him with the help of her young lover, Jim Torrance (Tony Barrett). After Walter and Irene make plans to drive to Lake Tahoe, Irene feigns illness and asks Walter to instead give Torrance, who is pretending to be Irene's "cousin" from Illinois, a lift to Denver, Colorado, allowing Torrance a chance to murder Walter en route. The plan falls apart when Williams survives a hit on the head from the would-be killer. Attempting to flee the scene in Williams' Packard Clipper convertible, Torrance dies in a fiery head-on collision with a gasoline tanker truck. The body of Torrance is mistakenly identified as Williams. In the meantime, Irene has made reservations at a hotel in Oakland for her and her boyfriend to meet afterward, under the assumed names of "Mr. & Mrs. Jack Burns."
The wounded, dazed Williams falls asleep in the back of a moving van and ends up in the small town of Larkspur, Idaho. Using the name "Bill Walker," he gets a job as a service station mechanic and falls in love with Marsha Peters (Ella Raines), a young widow who is the station's owner. Meanwhile, the police arrest Williams' wife for his "murder." After Marsha eventually persuades Walter to go back to clear his wife, he is charged with murdering Torrence. Marsha enlists the help of kindly police detective Quincy (Charles Coburn) to prove Walter's innocence.
suspenseful