I Stole a Million

Joe argues with a finance company over payments on his new cab, convinced he has been cheated. He reclaims the payments but is arrested for robbery. He escapes custody with the handcuffs still on and hops onto a passing freight train, where a tramp points him toward Patian, a thief in San Diego who can remove the cuffs.

On arrival in San Diego, Joe meets Patian, a thief and fence. Patian agrees to remove the handcuffs only if Joe agrees to drive the getaway car in a bank robbery.

Patian arranges a bank robbery and Joe drives the getaway car. After the heist, Patian sends Joe north to a boarding house in Sacramento to wait for his share of the loot.

At the Sacramento boarding house, the owner informs Joe that Patian isn't reliable with the money. Desperate for cash, Joe tries to figure out how to get bus fare to return to San Diego and collect what he's owed.

Joe contemplates robbing the cash register of the empty storefront of a downtown Sacramento flower shop. Laura Benson, the clerk, emerges from the backroom, and Joe is struck by love at first sight. He decides to go straight instead of turning to crime.

With winnings from a crap game, Joe buys a garage in Amesville and settles into a quiet life. However, within a year the police are on his trail, implying that his past is catching up with him.

Desperate for money, Joe travels back to San Diego to demand Patian's payment. Patian's thugs force him to rob a post office, pulling him back into crime.

Desperate and afraid of being caught if he returns home, Joe disappears. He vanishes into the shadows, running from the law and trying to stay one step ahead of Patian's gang.

Months later, Joe sees a photo of his newborn baby in the newspaper and confronts Laura. Laura pleads with him to surrender and serve his time so he can preserve a future with his daughter.

Footsteps are heard as pursuit closes in on Laura; Joe flees. Laura is arrested and jailed as an accomplice.

While Laura is in jail, Joe devises a plan to steal enough money to secure Laura and his daughter financially, embarking on a robbing spree that earns him the moniker \"the Million Dollar Bandit\".

After Laura serves her sentence, she meets Joe and again pleads for him to surrender. As police surround them, Joe has no choice but to turn himself in.