O'Brien is an average Joe who works hard at his telephone company repair job. He meets Kelley and Porter and fixes up a system that will bring them the race results of far-away tracks. It isn't long before O'Brien has eyes for Kelley's position and Porter's wife, Dru. When Kelley is mysteriously killed, O'Brien takes over.

Edmond O'Brien plays a telephone repairman whose electronic savvy earns him a job with a bookmaking concern. O'Brien's bookie boss (Barry Kelly) wants to get instant results from the nation's racetracks, and to this end O'Brien illicitly plugs into several communication centers. The wealthier O'Brien becomes, the more scruples he sheds. Eventually he runs afoul of the big boss of an eastern bookie syndicate (Otto Kruger) and vainly attempts to escape with his life in a slam-bang final at Boulder Dam. 711 OCEAN DRIVE was made to cash in on a then-current national newspaper expose of bookmaking operations.