The psychological suspense story was based on Patricia Highsmith's novel Two Faces of January. A young man named Chester MacFarland (Charles Brauer) has embezzled a fortune from a U.S. bank, and after he and his wife escape to Switzerland to pick up his cash, they change their identities and head to Athens. Once safely in that city, they commit a second crime: they accidentally kill a police detective. A young archaeology student had been trailing after the couple since he first saw them because Chester looks just like his father. His curiosity puts him at the scene of the killing when it happens, and now all three protagonists face an uncertain future.