The 1946 film "The Postman Always Rings Twice" is a crime film set at a Southern California highway restaurant and gas station. The proprietor hires a drifter who soon begins a romance with his wife. The pair then kill the husband and face many legal problems. At one point the wife gets some change from a cash register which also, for some reason, contains a Confederate note.

A sign reading "Man Wanted" attracts drifter Frank Chambers (John Garfield) to apply for the position. The proprietor, Nick Smith (Cecil Kellaway), hires him immediately. Soon Frank meets Nick's wife Cora (Lana Turner).

At first Cora puts Frank off but soon they get together. She complains about being stuck where she is and about her husband, whom she married only because he had money. Frank and Cora both man the cash register and Cora reaches in for some money.

Some coins are shown in trays which appear to be prop coins sized to resemble half-dollars and quarters. Also in the cash box is a currency note reading "ONE."

A Confederate one dollar bill appears in the cash register tray. The note is listed in Grover Criswell's book Confederate and Southern States Currency as number T-44 Lucy Pickens.

Nick tells Cora that he plans to sell the restaurant and move to Canada to stay with his invalid sister. Nick expects Cora to come with him and be a nurse for the sister. The pair run off and try hitchhiking.

Hitchhiking doesn't work and they return to the restaurant.

Cora and Frank discuss killing Nick for the restaurant and Nick's insurance. The pair and Nick drive up into the mountains where they crash the car. Unfortunately another car was there and it's driver appears and offers to help.

The man is Kyle Sackett (Leon Ames), the county district attorney. The police investigate, Cora is charged with murder with a slick lawyer, Arthur Keats (Hume Cronyn), as her attorney. Keets makes a deal and Cora is released. She and Frank then marry. Cora has become a celebrity which brings in customers for the restaurant.

The tensions of living together cause the couple to dislike each other. Frank has an affair with another woman but returns to Cora.

While Frank is driving their car Cora tells him that she is pregnant. Frank gets into an accident.

Cora is killed and the police believe that Frank killed her. Frank is convicted of murder.

John Garfield as Frank Chambers
Lana Turner as Cora Smith
Cecil Kellaway as Nick Smith
Leon Ames as Kyle Sackett
Hume Cronyn as Arthur Keats
Director: Tay Garnett
Writers: Harry Ruskin, Niven Busch
Based on the 1934 novel The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain