In this loose adaptation, the expatriate Russian general of the original story is transformed into a British traitor hiding in the Mexican jungle with a fellow Nazi war criminal played by Peter van Eyck.

After Latimer explains that his wife was the muse behind his literary success, and that he quit writing because she left him to be with his best friend, Katie decides to return to New York.

Katie introduces him to their rescuers, the Englishman Browne and the Dutch archaeologist Dr. Van Anders, who live on the estate with Jan, another European.

When asked about a rifle bullet that Latimer carries, he says that it is a souvenir and good luck charm from the D-Day invasion, a time when his courage failed him.

That night, Latimer finds a storeroom containing military gear with Nazi markings, items from his missing aircraft supposedly stolen by the local natives, and various hunting rifles.

Latimer eventually recognizes Browne's voice; the latter turns out to be an infamous turncoat who during the war broadcast Nazi propaganda from Berlin to Britain after having married a German girl.

Browne admits the truth and adds that his wife was Van Anders' sister, killed in a British air raid.

Van Anders is Colonel Von Andre, a German war criminal who massacred an entire village and intends to kill Latimer and Katie.

Stopping for the night, Latimer finds that she wrote down the office address of Sight magazine as her own, proving that she had been truthful about her feelings.

Latimer refuses and uses the bullet hole in the door as a makeshift gun barrel, striking the primer with a chisel and fatally shooting Browne.

Run for the Sun was one of four films produced for United Artists release by a company owned by actress Jane Russell and her then husband, former NFL star Bob Waterfield.

The location used for Browne and Van Anders' base was a vast, ruined, 16th century hacienda and sugar plantation/refinery built by Hernán Cortés at Atlacomulco, southeast of Cuernavaca.