 Burt (Michael Murphy), a clever ex-con, has changed his identity and has managed to land a job as a deputy in small town in upstate New York. On the 4th of July, while the drunken Sheriff Paisley (Orson Welles) is busy with the local parade and festivities, Burt quietly steals a million dollars in cash from the cellar safe in the local rich old widow s house. Unsuspected, Burt makes plans to live the rest of his life in the lap of luxury in a far off place with his attractive girlfriend, local hash house waitress Jeanette (Ann Lange). But when a crisis of conscience hits him like a wave of ice cold water, he starts to think twice about his dastardly deed, and how that purloining of the old lady s money is wrongly affecting his friends as well as innocent locals. But will Burt do the right thing?