A.C.Baker, advertising executive for an insurance company, approaches test pilot Terry Moore with a proposition that in return for using his picture and endorsement he will get a paid-for-a-year $1000 policy. High-risk Terry agrees. George MacAlister fires his secretary, Miss Tracy, just as she is typing up the policy and she, for spite, changes the amount from a thousand dollars to one million dollars. A.C. delivers the policy, without noticing the difference, to Terry at a party at the Frolics Club, a cheap joint wedged between a burlesque house and a flop house hotel. Three characters, an elderly hat-check "girl" known as Mother Hodges; Avery Jamieson, a broken-down actor; and bartender Harry Gargan are named beneficiaries. When the company discovers the error, A.C. is sent to get back the policy and, pending that, don't let Terry make any test flights.

"He was worth $1,000,000 dead... and not a penny alive!"