[1] A small plane carrying Frank Munson and handcuffed prisoner Ed Stone crashes in the California wilderness.

He hears their stories and, aware that his daughter is falling in love with Ed, offers him a chance to surrender to the authorities.

With a gun in his hand and a single bullet in the chamber, Ed proves his intent by refusing to shoot Frank when he has the chance.

Producer Howard Welsch had assumed Jean Simmons's contract from RKO and transferred it to 20th Century-Fox after making the film.

[5] In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic A. H. Weiler called A Bullet Is Waiting a "strangely verbose vehicle carrying more than a fair load of primary philosophy and a minimum of realistic drama and character delineation.