Thieves' Highway is set in the world of "long haul boys" who drive by night to bring their goods to the markets of American cities. Ex G.I. Nick Garcos (Richard Conte) is a tyro trucker bent on satisfaction from the man responsible for crippling his father-ruthless market operator Mike Figlia (Lee J. Cobb). Along the way, he is seduced by siren Rica (Valentina Cortesa) and drawn into the San Francisco produce racket-landing him in a web of treachery and heartbreak.