Steve Rawley is serving a 10-year prison sentence for a Christmas Eve factory robbery that netted $130,000 which he hid somewhere. He agrees to experimental brain surgery which is meant to remove the 'criminal element' from him. He is paroled into the custody of Dr. Marsden, who performs this operation.
Insurance investigator Jawald, having learned about this situation from a police acquaintance, visits Marsden. Jawald is determined to find out from Steve where the money is hidden, but the doctor informs him that, if the surgery is successful, Steve will have amnesia; he will know nothing about his past, and will believe he lost his memory in a car accident. After a polygraph and other tests, Marsden is convinced Steve remembers nothing about the robbery.