In Martinique, during the the Vichy regime, fishing boat captain Harry 'Steve' Morgan (Humphrey Bogart) is talked into helping the French Resistance smuggle people into the country. He's hesitant until his best customer is killed, leaving him in financial desperation. He ends up working for the Resistance against his better judgment and smuggles a couple into Martinique. Meanwhile, he and Marie Browning (Lauren Bacall) develop a budding romance. But now Harry finds himself running afoul of the law from multiple directions and finds that dating an American Pick pocket is risky business.