| Director | George Marshall |
|---|
Before undergoing an operation at a hospital in Chile, Peter Ingersoll explains the origin of his unusual condition.
Peter, a California insurance salesman, learns that he only has a short time left to live. With his wife's encouragement, Peter embarks on an epic fishing excursion, accruing $100,000 of charges on his credit card. However, Dr. Carter contacts Peter to inform him that he was misdiagnosed and is not dying. Dr. Carter urges Peter to fake his death to avoid paying the enormous debt and to permit his wife to collect a $150,000 life-insurance policy. After seven years, when the statute of limitations expires, Peter can reappear. So Peter's doctor has an idea to fake Peter's death and has Peter go to Israel. When Peter comes back, he discovers his wife is now married to his doctor.
Meanwhile, back in California, Peter has a scheme of his own. He has a doctor's order to check out if the dead body in Peter's coffin is actually Peter. The police discover that the dead body is actually a dead Confederate Army colonel. There is an uproar over insurance fraud by Peter's wife and a malpractice suit over Peter's doctor.
Peter discovers that the entire plan was a scheme concocted by his wife and Dr. Carter, who are having an affair. He is determined to sabotage their plans. He breaks into his wife's and the doctor's hotel room. Peter instead finds himself on the operating table in Chile with a marlin piercing his chest. Peter tells the operating team to tell everyone that if he doesn't survive that he died a happy man.