High Pressure

Gar Evans agrees to promote the artificial rubber product only after his friend Mike Donahey assures him it is not a scam. He reveals his superstition that his success depends on his long-suffering girlfriend Francine joining the venture. The setup establishes the central alliance and the personal stakes driving the scheme.

Gar learns Francine won't join unless she is convinced. He convinces her to give him another chance after she has given up on him, having left five days earlier to pick up something and never returning.

Gar quickly forms the Golden Gate Artificial Rubber Company, rents a full floor of a building, and installs Clifford Gray as president. He also hires Helen Wilson as secretary and recruits a large team of high-pressure salesmen to market shares.

As news spreads about the venture, natural rubber stock prices begin to fall. The market reaction signals trouble for established firms and fuels Gar's ambitions to disrupt the status quo.

Mr. Banks offers to buy the company on behalf of the established rubber firms, but his bid is too low for Gar. He then threatens to obtain an injunction preventing sales pending an investigation, a move Gar ironically welcomes.

Ginsburg is promoted to Colonel by Gar, but the inventor Dr. Rudolph Pfeiffer goes missing. When Pfeiffer is located, he begins making a sample, setting the stage for a deeper showdown over the product.

Pfeiffer is located and begins producing a sample, but it quickly becomes clear he is a deranged crackpot whose inventions include hens laying pre-decorated Easter eggs. The dubious nature of the product threatens to derail the venture.

Francine quits in disgust and prepares to sail to South America to marry Señor Rodriguez. Gar ignores legal advice to flee and insists on taking full responsibility for the venture.

Banks offers to reimburse all shareholders and pay Gar enough to make a $100,000 profit just to be rid of the whole mess and restore stock prices. Gar considers the offer as the clock ticks toward resolution.

Gar rushes to the dock to retrieve the Golden Gate controlling shares that he had signed over to Francine. The moment becomes a hinge point in the battle over control and the future of the venture.

Gar wins Francine back by promising to give up promoting the venture. The engagement is momentarily secured, but trouble looms as Donahey arrives with a fresh scheme.

Donahey shows up with a plan for Alaska involving gold, marble, and spruce wood, signaling Gar's imminent pivot to another get-rich-quick campaign. The scheme foreshadows the next phase of his promotional career.

Within seconds of reuniting with Francine, Gar is already plotting his next promotional campaign. The cycle of ambition resumes as the story tees up new opportunities and schemes.