In Los Angeles, Tod is taking a computer programming course at UCLA, while Buz, the current breadwinner to allow Tod this opportunity, is a reluctant "Gisselle of Montmartre" guy, selling cosmetics door-to-door. While at the bus depot, Buz is knocked over by a suitcase/purse snatcher, the physically unharmed victim, a well-dressed young woman named Jan, who doesn't want Buz to run after the snatcher or to inform the police. In fact, she tells Buz what sounds like a fantastical story of needing to hide out since bad guys are after her, trying to get her to give up information on the whereabouts of her Italian mob father. As such, she has no money but can't go home. Buz and eventually Tod feel protective toward Jan, much as they would a kid sister (as they figure she is probably still a minor), regardless of whatever her true story. Their ability to help her, especially in giving her a place to live temporarily, is hindered by the fact that they are staying at a men's only hotel and they have little extra money to give her for her own place. As Tod and Buz try to help her in whatever way they can, Jan may inadvertently get most specifically Buz into trouble by her actions, as a man named Baer and his associates are after her, the people who he represents who will do anything to get to Jan.
—Huggo