Former P.O.W Bill Saunders (Burt Lancaster) is living in England and scarred with unstable and violent tendencies. After killing a man in a bar fight, he flees the scene and manages to find cover in the home of Nurse Jane Wharton (Joan Fontaine) who agrees to take him in and believes his version of the story being an accident. Now in love, nurse Warton tries to secure Saunders a job delivering medical supplies after being released from prison after serving time for fighting with a police officer. Things take a turn, however, when a racketeer (Robert Newton) who witnessed Saunders' murder threatens to turn him into the police unless he agrees to assist in a crime.