Emily, an attractive young woman, checks in at the Hotel Ventura and makes a strange request of the bellhop--that he marry her that night, though the marriage will be immediately annulled. Entranced by her beauty, he agrees. She instructs him to drive to the house of a particular Justice of the Peace, and after the ceremony the bellhop is shocked when Emily fatally stabs the JP and flees into the night. Ventura police note the name given on the marriage license, "Miriam Webster." Their investigation leads them up the coast to Solvang, Calif., where a detective interviews the real Miriam and learns that she is half-sister to Warren Webster, who will inherit $10 million on his upcoming birthday.