Three Bad Sisters

In Southern California, Valerie Craig is unmoved when she and her lover, Tony Cadiz, hear a radio report about the death of her millionaire father in a small plane crash in Wyoming. However, the news prompts Tony, who was fired for stealing from Craig's company, to ask Valerie to reinstate his job. Around the same time, Valerie's sister Vicki is confronted by Nadine, her lover Carlos' wife. Although Nadine offers to leave Carlos for money, Vicki reveals she is only interested in married men. In Wyoming, meanwhile, Craig's pilot, James Norton, defends himself to a board of inquiry investigating the crash. Jim reports that Craig had grabbed the controls and forced the plane into an unrecoverable spin. After the crash, Jim was unable to rescue Craig as the plane was engulfed in flames. The board determines Jim is not culpable, and when he returns to his hotel room, he finds Valerie inside. Valerie offers to pay Jim $200,000 to seduce her other sister, Lorna, who is the executor of their father's $40 million estate and intends to thwart Valerie's plans for the inheritance. Although Lorna is engaged to George Gurney, Craig's attorney, the crash has tainted Jim's reputation as a pilot, so he agrees to help Valerie. The next week, Jim arrives at the Craig estate in California and finds Lorna poised to jump off a cliff called Devil's Bridge. Lorna explains that years earlier, she refused Valerie's dare to jump into the treacherous water below, and still regrets having allowed her fear to stop her. As Valerie has introduced Jim to the sisters and their alcoholic aunt, Martha, as a partner in their father's housing development, Lorna offers to pay Jim $25,000 to quit-claim the arrangement. Jim declines the offer because he hopes to make a profit on the development, but later that night, Valerie, who set up the fraudulent partnership, warns Jim she will frame him for her father's murder if he fails her. After spending some time with Lorna, Jim decides to take over the development, and Valerie urges Lorna to give up George for Jim. When Valerie reminds Lorna of the family penchant for suicide, Lorna becomes hysterical and is soothed by Jim. Later, Jim is rehired by his airline to fly to Las Vegas, but when he discovers that his passenger is Vicki, he tries to back out of the flight. Jim reluctantly agrees after Vicki threatens to sue the airline for breach of contract, and he spends the flight fending off her attempts at seduction. After they return, Jim assures Valerie, with whom he has fallen in love, and Martha and George that Vicki set him up. When Valerie confronts Vicki, their argument escalates into a fight during which Valerie beats Vicki with a whip, leaving bloody slashes on her sister's face. Valerie further torments her vain sister about her now-ruined appearance, causing Vicki to flee in her car. Jim and Lorna try to stop her, but Vicki crashes and dies. Jim takes the distraught Lorna on a trip, during which he confesses that the partnership is a fake setup by Valerie. Jim then confesses to having fallen in love with Lorna and proposes to her. Lorna and Jim return to California as a married couple, surprising George, Martha and Valerie. Jim then takes control of the Craig estate and tries to distance himself from Valerie. Valerie persists and arranges for Jim to meet with Tony at a nightclub, hoping to ingratiate Tony in the family business once again. When Jim refuses to consider the inexperienced Tony for a job managing a new yacht club, Tony attacks him, but to Valerie's surprise, Jim is the victor in the fight. Valerie later threatens to have Jim indicted for her father's murder, but he calls her bluff and reveals that Lorna knows about their deal. One day, Valerie joins Tony and Lorna for a horseback ride and purposely startles Lorna's horse into throwing her, then attempts to trample Lorna. Jim rescues his wife, and later Valerie acknowledges that it is evident that Jim genuinely loves Lorna. Nevertheless, a still-suspicious Martha tries to convince Lorna that Jim is using her, and ultimately intends to get rid of her and marry Valerie. Jim alleviates Lorna's fears, but unwittingly accepts a dinner invitation from a wealthy patron, unaware that it is a ruse engineered by Valerie. That night, after Jim discovers that the patron is actually out of town, Jim telephones Lorna, and learns from the butler that she left after getting a call. Unknown to the butler, the call was from Valerie, who claimed that Jim was with her. When Lorna arrives at Valerie's apartment, she sees a pair of pajamas she gave Jim lying on Valerie's bed. Valerie forces a kiss on Jim when he comes to look for Lorna, and believing this is evidence of Jim's duplicity, Lorna races back to the estate. Jim and Valerie follow her, and Valerie implores Jim to abandon his wife and share the estate with her, but Jim is loyal to Lorna. As they near the house, Valerie grabs the wheel of the car, which crashes into a pillar. Valerie is killed, but Jim is unharmed, and runs to Devil's Bridge, where he discovers that Lorna jumped into the water, and is now struggling for her life. Jim then dives into the water and pulls Lorna to safety.