Storyline:

It's 1945, a couple of weeks after the official end of the war. For the first time in four years, the streamliner stops in the small American western desert town of Black Rock, and off the train steps John J. Macreedy. Wearing a suit, he's a middle aged man with a lame left arm who has never been to Black Rock. Without even knowing who he is or what his story is, the townsfolk are suspicious of Macreedy. They learn that he is only in town for 24 hours when the streamliner will pick him up the next day to take him to Los Angeles, where he will "restart" his life. His trip to Black Rock is to speak to a Japanese-American farmer named Komoko who supposedly lives in Adobe Flat. No one in town is willing to help Macreedy locate Komoko. As Macreedy is on his search to find Komoko, he comes to the realization that Reno Smith is the town's leader in whatever they are hiding. Everyone else in town is either in cahoots with Smith, or is unwilling to help for fear of reprisal from Smith and his associates. Those unwilling to help include such influential people as the town's sheriff, the switchboard operator and the telegraph operator. As those in cahoots with Smith try to provoke Macreedy, he also realizes that they are trying to have a reason to kill him. Regardless, Macreedy knows that without help, he will be dead before morning comes as he has no access to either a vehicle or means of communication to the outside world. When he finds out the secret the town is keeping, Macreedy does whatever he needs to save his life and in the process save the town from the scourge that has hung over it for four years.