In this film adaptation of the Robert E. Sherwood play, a drifter, a waitress and a notorious gangster cross paths in the Petrified Forest region of Arizona. Alan (Leslie Howard), a destitute writer, goes into the diner where Gabrielle (Bette Davis) works. Gabrielle dreams of studying art, and she and Alan connect as they talk about Europe and she tells him her ambitions. But gangster Duke Mantee (Humphrey Bogart) shows up and takes the customers hostage.