Orson Welles plays a lonesome Irish sailor, Michael O'Hara, who gets hired to work on a yacht belonging to a well-known criminal lawyer, Arthur Bannister. However, what draws O'Hara to work on the boat is not the offer of employment but Bannister's wife, Elsa (Rita Hayworth).
On their way from New York to San Francisco, they pick up Bannister's law partner Grisby, who persuades O'Hara to fake Grisby's death in exchange for money. Faced with this dangerous ploy while falling in love with Elsa, O'Hara gets trapped in a web of lies, love and murder that unravels in Welles' hall of mirrors climax, hailed as one of the greatest scenes in cinematic history. NR / 88 min.