High Sierra

Aging gangster Big Mac M'Gann hatches a plan to rob a fashionable hotel in Tropico Springs. He engineers Roy Earle's release from an Indiana prison by bribing the governor, positioning Roy to lead the operation. The hotel job in the resort town becomes the centerpiece of their criminal scheme.

Roy drives cross-country to an abandoned logging camp in the mountains to meet the trio who will assist with the heist. The journey marks the formal start of assembling the crew and setting the plan in motion. The rugged camp becomes the base from which the operation is organized.

At the camp, Roy is introduced to Louis Mendoza, Red Hattery, and Babe Kozak, who will help execute the robbery. He quickly ties the group to the plan and begins forming the team. Algernon introduces Pard, the small dog Roy will come to adopt, adding a softer note to the crew’s gritty atmosphere.

Marie Garson, Babe's girlfriend, accompanies the group to the camp. Roy initially derides her involvement but eventually allows her to stay, setting up the tense dynamic that will unfold as the plot progresses. Her presence foreshadows a complicated romance amid the crime.

In Tropico Springs, Roy becomes enamored with Velma Goodhue, a young woman with a clubfoot. He pays for corrective surgery to help her walk normally. Roy asks Velma to marry him, but she explains she is engaged to someone back East, complicating his plans and feelings.

The group carries out the hotel robbery, but a security guard interrupts the operation. Roy escapes with Marie and a stash of jewelry from the hotel safe. Meanwhile Mendoza, Red, and Babe are in a car crash; Red and Babe die, and Mendoza is captured by the authorities.

Mendoza is taken by the police and questioned about the robbery. Roy and Marie drive to Los Angeles with the jewels, only to learn that Big Mac has died and Jake Kranmer has taken over the operation. The new leadership sets the stage for Roy's ongoing jeopardy.

Kranmer tries to force Roy to surrender the jewels; Roy refuses and shoots him dead. Back in Los Angeles, Roy visits Velma, fulfilling his promise to see her when she is able to walk, adding a personal motive to his criminal life.

Roy meets with Art, a fence, who cannot pay the full $30,000 immediately. He reconciles his situation by giving Marie an engagement ring and then the couple goes into hiding at a hotel to lay low and avoid detection.

Newspaper headlines reveal Roy and Marie, with Pard drawing attention as well, forcing them deeper into hiding. Roy decides to send Marie and Pard to Las Vegas by bus while he contemplates when and how to claim payment for the jewels.

Roy returns to Los Angeles to collect the jewels, but his plan is foiled when a quick, low-stakes town stickup draws police attention. He is pursued back toward the mountains and forced to flee on foot, narrowing his escape routes and escalating the danger.

Pard the dog escapes the police camp and tracks Roy to a mountainside. Roy, distracted by the dog's barking, runs onto a precipice and is killed by a sharpshooter. Marie arrives too late, witnessing Roy's fall as Pard lies beside him in a somber close to their story.