Disaster

At a Los Angeles bus terminal, police detective Lieutenant Dearborn tries to arrest murder suspect James Reid, but James flees by taxi. Dearborn follows James to a church, but when the detective climbs the stairs to the bell tower where James is hiding, the fugitive joins construction worker Pop Hansford as he paints a high tower on a scaffolding. James introduces himself to Pop as "Bill Wyatt," and the kindly older man surmises that he needs work and offers to train him as a steeplejack, a jack-of-all-trades who is adept at working at heights. James initially resists Pop's offer, but when he sees that Dearborn is still lurking around the church, he becomes friendly with Pop's daughter Jerry, who runs the business. Jerry takes James back to the company office to describe the job to him, and when she learns that he has no place to live, she allows him to sleep in her office. When she returns after the weekend, Jerry is impressed by all the items James has fixed during her absence, and Pop instructs his chief worker, Sam Payne, to train James. James adroitly completes the work, but although Pop encourages James to pursue Jerry, he and Sam get into frequent fistfights over her. One night, after James leaves a nightclub abruptly, claiming that he wishes to avoid an ex-girl friend. Pop boldly speaks with the woman, who is with Dearborn, and learns that she does not know him. The next day, Pop urges James to confess his troubles, and James tells his story: During a lunch break at a construction site, where James has a job as a structural steel worker, James plays cards with his boss and several workers. When he accuses his boss, Davis, of cheating, Davis fires him, but later makes an appointment to see him. James shows up for the appointment, but finds Davis dead and his own sledgehammer next to his body. James's co-worker, Frosty Davenport, a welder, emerges from a pile of lumber and runs, and James is seen chasing him from the scene and is accused of the murder. James tells Pop that he is now trying to find Frosty to testify to his innocence, and to help him, Pop advertises for a welder, hoping that Frosty will apply for the job. One day, some scaffolding that James has rigged fails and Sam falls, surviving only because he hits an awning before striking the ground. Sam accuses James of attempted murder, and Pop fires James because he is worried that the accident will cause him to lose his bid with the Board of Education to maintain forty-two schools. However, he later tells James that he is protecting him from Dearborn, who came to the office because James's photograph was in the newspaper. When Frosty finally applies for the job, James secretly meets him on a roof and threatens to push him over the ledge unless he identifies Davis' killer. Terrified, Frosty is about to admit the truth when he sees Dearborn and a policeman, and he and James narrowly escape arrest. Later, when a plane crashes into a building due to fog, a call goes out to all steeplejacks because the building is about to collapse. Having just borrowed money from Pop, James plans to leave town as Pop rushes to the scene of the accident. Pop climbs to the top of the building to throw a grappling hook around an unstable section of wall. Although his efforts are successful, a girder falls and pins him down. Instead of leaving, James goes to the site and rescues Pop, even though Dearborn sees him and vows to arrest him when he comes down. James rescues Pop at the risk of losing his own life, but when he sees Frosty among the crew, he pushes him close to the edge until Frosty confesses to Davis' murder. Frosty is arrested, and the commissioner grants Pop's company the school contract, while Jerry grants James a kiss.