Philip Ridgeway, a young banker is suspected of stealing one million dollars in Liberty Bonds on a transatlantic journey to New York. His fiancee appeals to Hercule Poirot to prove his innocence and to clear his name. Ridgeway is the nephew of Mr Vavasour, the joint general manager of the London and Scottish Bank and a million dollars of bonds have gone missing whilst in his care. Poirot meets Ridgeway at the Cheshire Cheese to hear the facts of the case: Ridgeway was entrusted by his uncle and the other general manager, Mr Shaw, with taking a million dollars of Liberty bonds to New York to extend the bank's credit line there. Poirot learns the identities of the three people who hold keys to the locked trunk, but it won't be as easy to identify the true thief…