Wealthy hotshot Cash McCall (James Garner) makes his money by purchasing unsuccessful businesses, whipping them into shape and then selling them for a huge profit. When Cash comes across Austen Plastics, a small manufacturing corporation on its last legs, he realizes it might be a gamble to buy the company. But when Cash finds out that the company's owner, Grant (Dean Jagger), is the father of his old flame, Lory (Natalie Wood), he buys the business just to get a second chance at romance.