Czech-American widower Jan "Hunky" Horak is a middle-aged railroad dispatcher who operates isolated Tank Stop 47, several miles out of town, by himself. When he takes a rare Sunday holiday, he is replaced by a younger man named Steve. While at a carnival, he is targeted by a young, attractive blonde named Betty, who is just after his money. After their date, she returns to her room but finds she and her friend Irma have been evicted, not having paid rent for months, and her landlady threatens to call the police unless she returns the silverware and linen that she
hocked. To solve her financial problems, she marries Hunky. Hunky loses his hearing and is allowed to retire early. Steve is his replacement, but as the retirement paperwork will take weeks to complete, Steve temporarily lives in a shed across the tracks from the company-provided house where Hunky and Betty reside. Steve knows what kind of woman Betty is, as she had dated someone whom he knows, but he falls in love with her. When Hunky is felled by a car, he regains his hearing but does not inform anyone, afraid that he might lose his company pension. Betty, not realizing that Hunky can hear her, talks openly in his presence about how she had only married him to settle her financial woes and that she will not remain with him. After Betty learns that she cannot obtain a divorce, she unsuccessfully attempts to persuade Hunky to move his savings into a
joint account. She next tries to convince Steve to shove Hunky from a cliff during a rail inspection, falsely claiming that Hunky has beaten her, but Steve cannot allow himself to commit murder. Disgusted, Betty packs her things and leaves. ==Cast==