Million Dollar Weekend

One Saturday morning, Los Angeles stockbroker Nicholas Lawrence decides to abscond with a million dollars worth of cash and securities belonging to his company's clients and books a flight to Shanghai, via Honolulu. At the same time, Cynthia Strong goes directly from her husband's funeral service to the municipal airport and boards the same flight as Nicholas. On board, Cynthia is surprised by Alan Marker, who has followed her and tells her that he saw her murder her husband. Although she denies his charge, Marker demands half of the insurance money she will receive in exchange for his silence and gives her until one hour after they arrive in Honolulu to decide. When Marker leaves momentarily, Cynthia, who is seated opposite Nicholas, asks for his help, saying that Marker is threatening her, and persuades Nicholas to pretend that he knows her. As soon as Marker returns, she introduces Nicholas as an old friend she has not seen for some time. On landing in Honolulu, all three check into the same hotel, although Nicholas is just laying over before catching the Shanghai flight. Later, while Cynthia and Nicholas talk on the hotel's terrace, Marker enters Nicholas' room and takes his cash-filled briefcase. After Cynthia tells Nick that she has a feeling that he is running away from something, she admits that she, too, wants to forget the past and asks Nicholas to take her to dinner. He declines, however, as he must catch his flight. When Nicholas discovers that his briefcase is missing, he suspects that Cynthia and Marker may have conspired to steal it, but both deny doing so. Later, when Cynthia and Nicholas go looking for Marker, they discover that he has checked out of the hotel and follow him to the airport, where they all board a flight bound for San Francisco. Marker shows them that he is in possession of a gun and admits to taking the briefcase. In San Francisco, when an agricultural inspector passes through the plane checking for fruits and flowers, Marker tells him that Nicholas is carrying a rare plant and, in the resulting confusion, slips off the plane. After Nicholas and Cynthia check hotels all over San Francisco looking for Marker, Nicholas reveals to Cynthia over dinner that he has lost a million dollars because of becoming involved with her and Marker. Cynthia then tells Nicholas how she came to be on his flight: Her husband was a great surgeon but subjected her to mental cruelty. One night, during supper in their penthouse home, her husband drank too much and insulted her in Marker's presence. After Marker appeared to have left, her husband forced himself upon her, but she pushed him away, causing him to fall from the penthouse terrace to his death. Cynthia explains that Marker is now blackmailing her. Nicholas believes her story, then confides that, as he did not want to follow his businessman father to an early grave, he took his clients' money, but now feels ashamed. After Cynthia tells him that she intends to return to Los Angeles to face whatever may happen, Nicholas suggests that, if they both are able to get their lives straightened out, they meet again one month from then in Honolulu. Cynthia agrees and leaves Nicholas in the restaurant. Meanwhile, at a boardinghouse, a young woman brings Marker some coffee in his room but he asks her to get him some Napoleon brandy. Nicholas is at the restaurant's bar when the woman comes to buy a bottle of the brandy, which Nicholas knows is the only beverage that Marker drinks. Nicholas also spots a Hawaiian flower in her hair and follows her back to Marker. After Nicholas fights Marker, he recovers the briefcase and returns to Los Angeles in time to put the money back in the safe before business opens. One month later, Nicholas and Cynthia keep their appointment in Honolulu.