A heavy storm catches everybody, nearly all with good reasons for fleeing the US, at the Black Raven motel just across the U.S./Canada border, and one of them winds up dead. The motel is run by a Mr. Bradford, who seems to have a sinister past. The others are an escaped convict with plans on Bradford's life, a bank employee who has embezzled $50,000, a young couple that has eloped and, for comic relief, a not-too-bright county sheriff.
While Bradford is hardly a saint, he suspects the murderer is planning to frame him for the crime. When the irate and disagreeable father of the eloping woman turns up, Bradford sacrifices his life to catch the murderer and see to it that the eloping couple can start a new life with his stash of money.
