Thieves' Highway

Returning home to Fresno after the war, working class Nick Garcos is full of vim and vigor with a handful of cash to show for it and an armload of gifts for his family and his girl, Polly Faber, the two who plan to get married. Nick's enthusiasm is dampened when he sees that his father, Yanko Garcos, who transported produce - he buying directly from farmers to transport and sell to wholesalers at produce markets - has suffered at the hands of San Francisco wholesaler, Mike Figlia. Yanko is not totally certain that Figlia bilked him out of the payment for what was Yanko's final shipment - Yanko drunk at the time, he awakening with no money - but is certain that it was Figlia who got him drunk which Figlia arguably did to bilk him out of said payment and which led to the traffic accident resulting in the loss of his legs. Vowing revenge for what Figlia did to his father, Nick senses an opportunity upon meeting another produce transporter, Ed Kinney, with who he plans to partner in an upcoming shipment of much sought out apples. In the process, Nick discovers that among the mostly honest and up front people in the business, there are a few solely out to make a buck by whatever means, including cheating and stealing, such as Figlia. While not in the business, who may fall into that unscrupulous category is Rica, a party girl who Nick meets in the vicinity of the produce market where Figlia has his operation, she who sometimes seems to be on Nick's side in wanting to help him, but who he sometimes suspects may in reality be in Figlia's back pocket in her needy nature.