Frank Chambers is a drifter, and he is broke. One day, he finds himself in front of a diner somewhere in the California nowhere, run by the Greek Papadakis and his beautiful young wife Cora. Cora can't stand her husband, but she is drawn to the drifter Frank. This creates a problem that only one solution knows, a solution that brings many more problems with it—problems for which there is no solution. The world is rarely darker than in James M. Cain's works. In this no man's land, ruthlessness, the craving for sex, and the desire for money reign supreme. Everyone looks out for themselves. There is no redemption. Unrelenting and in uniquely pointed prose, Cain drives his antiheroes to their doom.