[1] The film depicts an FBI investigation on corruption within the state parole board of California, following the release of career criminals.

FBI agent Richard Hendricks lies in a hospital bed, dictating the results of his investigation for a report to the California governor.

Hendricks investigates undercover as an ex-convict attempting to buy a parole for a criminal partner currently in jail.

He infiltrates the social circle of another recent parolee of dubious character, Harry Palmer, and asks him how to purchase a parole.

In a contemporary review, critic Edwin Schallert of the Los Angeles Times called the film "exceptionally good" and wrote: "Michael O'Shea as a government investigator does a fine, clean-cut job which will have the studios questing for him with regularity.