The night of August 3, 1933, outside the Louisburg Federal Prison in Pennsylvania. After serving 2 years of a life sentence for his part in the holdup of a Federal Reserve bank shipment, Frank Halloway is busting out, climbing over the wall. When a fellow inmate breaks his leg from the jump from the high prison wall, ruthless Frank Halloway hops into the getaway car that was left there for him-- and runs over the hapless inmate. Halloway's share of the loot, which was never recovered by the police, comes to $250,000-- and it's being held by Ed Johnson in Los Angeles, who never got caught. At the Palace Ballroom, they are in hour 257 of a dance marathon; Mona just wants to win and collect her half of the $500 prize money, but gangster Daniel Oates has other plans for her-- he wants her to escort Frank Halloway to L.A., since a traveling couple would look less suspicious to the police than Halloway traveling by himself. Daniel fixes Halloway up with a car, driver's license, suits an