Henry Adams, a clerk in a San Francisco stockbroker's office, is swept out to sea while sailing one weekend. He is rescued by a ship bound for London and must work during the voyage to earn his passage, and he arrives in the city with his clothing in rags and only one dollar in his pocket. Two very rich and eccentric brothers spot him and give him an envelope with no information. Seeing money inside the envelope, Henry immediately heads for a cheap dining house and eats a meal; afterward, he discovers that the money is a single bank note for one million pounds sterling, the equivalent of $5 million in United States currency. Without knowing it at the time, Henry has become the subject of a £20,000 bet between the brothers. One believes that the mere possession of the bank note can enable a person to survive even with no other means of support, while the other feels that the holder will be unable to use it without drawing the authorities' suspicions.
