Two Smart People

Con man Ace Connors, in Beverly Hills to run his latest scam, learns from his lawyer in New York that the authorities are ready to arrest him for a con that netted him $500,000 in government gold bonds minus $10,000 in associate expenses, unless he agrees to a plea bargain of pleading guilty to taking the bonds (but not necessarily possession of them) for a five year prison sentence in Sing Sing, he needing to give himself up in five days back in New York. In weighing the options, he decides to accept the plea figuring he, after his release with a clean slate, can retire until that $500,000 runs out, he not planning on divulging where he's hid the bonds or surrendering them. He is able to convince Bob Simms, the New York police detective who has been after him for years, who will soon retire himself after this latest job of babysitting Ace for the next five days, and who he considers an adversarial friend, to accompany him on a fun-filled luxury trip across the US - hitting Texas and New Orleans in time for Mardi Gras - for the next five days all expenses paid by Ace, with the full understanding that Bob will have no other option but to shoot to kill if Ace makes any move to try and give him the slip. Complications ensue when that "$10,000 associate", Fly Feletti, feels he was cheated out of what he now believes is his fair share of the bond scam, meaning $250,000, despite his and Ace's negotiation prior to the con. What Ace does not know is that Fly has co-opted the assistance of Ricki Woodner, a con woman Ace encountered in targeting the same naive but wealthy mark in Beverly Hills, to find where Ace has hidden the bonds, Ricki having no idea of Ace's plea deal or who Bob is, she believing Bob just the latest of Ace's targets, and Bob having no idea that Ricki herself is in the con game. Ace, Ricki and Bob are all working on their own motivations - some known to the others, some not - and which may include Ace and Ricki truly falling for each other.