A female reporter deciphers a cryptic poem written by a death-row inmate as his final words and embarks on a quest to find the $30 million in cash and fine jewelry he stole and squirreled away prior to being captured. However, several others, including the prison warden, realize the reporter has solved the riddle and do everything in their power--including kill--to get to the loot first.     

SYNOPSIS:

Susan Richards, a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, is assigned to cover the execution of Joseph Hartman, a San Quentin death-row inmate, convicted of crashing a Christmas party for some of San Francisco's elite a few years earlier and robbing them of their cash and jewelry. Taking the Mayor's daughter hostage and later killing her---as well as his two accomplices---sealed Hartman's fate. However, Hartman was able to bury his loot before being captured and declined to reveal its location for years until just before his execution when he offers up a cryptic poem to be read as his final words. The poem is a riddle, and once deciphered, reveals the location of the cash and jewelry.

Susan attends Hartman's execution and obtains a copy of his poem. She ultimately solves the riddle and embarks upon a scavenger hunt to find Hartman's stash. But unscrupulous individuals, including the Warden of the prison and a rival reporter from another newspaper, soon realize that Susan is onto something and vie to get to the treasure first. A sudden opportunity to obtain $30 million in cash and fine jewelry brings out the worst in desperate people, and this fault renders Susan's journey to get the loot nearly impossible. Further complicating matters is the fact that one of Hartman's accomplices was Susan's brother.

Clues from the poem lead Susan to a town in Northern California, where she and Hartman both grew up---as did Susan's brother, Billy, one of Hartman's accomplices. Susan pays a visit to Hartman's mother, and under the pretense of doing a story on Hartman that paints him in a more positive light, is shown the original poem he wrote and obtains additional clues as to the location of the loot. Later, Susan encounters an old boyfriend, Tom, who runs a hardware store, when she goes there to buy a metal detector and shovel. Susan reluctantly allows Tom in on the secret when he confronts her with his suspicion that she has returned to her home town to find the loot. Meanwhile, the Warden, the rival reporter, and an undercover detective hired by the Mayor (who suspects that Susan is somehow involved in the crime and wants to find his daughter's body), are all tailing Susan separately, unaware of each other.

Susan and her former flame, Tom, further decipher the poem and conclude that the loot is buried near Shasta Dam, a place their families---including Hartman---used to frequent in the summer. Choosing to go there at night when no one is around, they use a metal detector to scan the area revealed in the riddle and soon discover a "hot spot" in the woods near the dam. As a precaution, Tom packs a pistol. Meanwhile, the Warden and the undercover detective arrive at the dam and the Warden's ulterior motive is revealed when he encounters the detective and slits his throat before proceeding into the woods to locate Susan and Tom.

Meanwhile, Tom and Susan are busy digging in the mud (it's raining) to uncover what the metal detector has pinged. Tom unearths several ammunition boxes containing the stolen cash and jewelry. He also unearths a female hand with a large diamond ring on its finger, which we realize belongs to the mayor's daughter, since the opening act reveals during the getaway that the mayor's daughter is actually in on the crime and is the girlfriend of one of Hartman's accomplices who puts the ring on her finger.

Meanwhile, Hartman's brother, Albert, stops by to visit his mother and learns that Susan had been there. Albert suspects that Susan is actually trying to find the loot and asks his mother to show him the poem. To read it more easily, Albert holds the poem up to the light and notices that certain words are faintly underlined. Piecing the underlined words together, he realizes that the cash and jewelry is buried at "the dam." So now he is on Susan's trail as well.

Back in the woods, Susan excitedly tells Tom that they have solved the mystery surrounding the crime---which she will get to write an article about in the paper---and they will be heroes by returning the jewelry and cash to the authorities. But Tom has other plans, since he is strapped financially and the IRS is breathing down his neck. He tries to get Susan to keep the discovery a secret and offers to split everything with her. But Susan is not so inclined and refuses. Tom then pulls out his pistol and gives Susan one last chance to change her mind. Assuming he is bluffing, Susan still refuses. So Tom raises the pistol and points it at Susan's head. But the Warden shows up and surprises them, and Tom gets shot in an exchange of gunfire.

Susan assumes that the Warden has rescued her and the ordeal is over. However, the Warden proceeds to march her down to the dam, intending to push her off into the raging waters below and make it look like a suicide before returning to claim the cash and jewelry for himself. Susan struggles with the Warden and is about to topple backwards off the dam when a gunshot rings out. The Warden releases his hold on Susan and staggers backwards before being shot a couple more times by Carl, one of Tom's employee's from the hardware store. Carl is accompanied by Peter, Susan's estranged husband, who was contacted by Susan's mother and alerted to the fact that Susan may be getting in way over her head on her quest to find the loot and may be in danger.

Susan and Peter have a bit of a reconciliation before heading back to gather up the loot and call the authorities. But as they reach the end of the dam, a car driven by the rival reporter races away. Carl, Peter and Susan hurry to the excavation site, but when they get there, the ammunition boxes containing the cash and jewelry, as well as the woman's hand with the diamond ring on it, are gone. They head back to the parking lot where their vehicles are parked and discover the detective in his car with his throat slashed. They call the police and hop in Carl's vehicle to leave the area and get away from any further danger.

Rounding a curve on the road leading away from the dam, they come upon the rival reporter's car, crashed in the ditch with the trunk open. Skid marks indicate that he cut a corner too close and had to swerve to miss an oncoming vehicle. Susan moves around, looks in the trunk and sees the female hand with the diamond ring on it, holding the piece of pie wrapped in tin foil that Ruth Hartman gave her earlier that day.

TWIST: Cut to: Albert Hartman and the rival reporter traveling down the road in Albert's pickup with the ammunition boxes full of cash and jewelry in the back.

FINAL WORDS