When small-time movie director Jimmy Lawrence arrives in Danville, Kentucky, to make a half-reeler for the local movie house, he tells his girlfriend that’s it a no-brainer job: audition the locals, film the short movie of a heist in a local bank, leave a print with the local movie house, and be on his way to the next town. But it’s 1934, and so many people have John Dillinger on the brain that it doesn’t take much for them to believe Jimmy is the dastardly gunman. And they welcome him with open arms—after all, he robs big bad banks, and he’s from right down the road in Indiana. Jimmy lets them think he’s the big shot, and all goes well until the real John Dillinger shows up at the Gilcher Hotel to discover that Jimmy has stolen his identity. And he’s not at all happy.