When the Clock Strikes

After helping to convict a man of murder, Sam Morgan is troubled, and he races through a blinding storm to the prison where the man, Frank Pierce, is scheduled to be executed at midnight. En route, he picks up a young woman named Ellie and gives her a lift to a nearby lodge. As the hour of execution nears, she tells him she is Pierce's wife. At midnight, a man named Martinez rushes into the lodge and confesses to the crime for which Pierce is being executed. The next day, after Martinez has been taken into custody by the police, Sam and Ellie go through the last of Pierce's belongings and find a key to a post office box in New Mexico. Certain the box contains money Pierce had stolen 2 years before, they decide to have the money sent to the lodge and divide it. Then, suddenly, the real Mrs. Pierce arrives at the lodge and announces that Frank Pierce had murdered her father. Meanwhile, the lodge owner, Cady, has also learned about the money, and he makes plans to obtain it for himself. But as he tries to shoot Sam, Mrs. Pierce sees him and he is forced to kill her. Sam and Ellie are about to leave when the money arrives. Cady warns them that if they take it, he will inform the sheriff that Sam killed Mrs. Pierce. Realizing that he must tell the truth, Sam calls the police and has Cady arrested for murder. (Verleiher-Text)