Mason Alimonti, a recently widowed 80-year-old man living in California, receives a letter from an English bank manager named Graham Shovelin. Graham explains that his bank has an account for an American millionaire who recently died without heirs. In order to prevent the funds from being frozen, they chose Mason to be the designated recipient of the over $30 million fortune. Mason thinks the letter sounds too good to be true, but after speaking to Graham on the phone, he agrees to be the designee. The next time Mason calls Graham's office, he speaks to Graham's secretary, Chevette, who takes Mason's banking information. They send Mason a check for $20,000, but they ask him to wait two weeks before depositing it because of bureaucratic red tape. In the meantime, Graham asks Mason to deposit $20,000 of his own money into a special account to cover the interim costs. Graham also informs Mason that he has terminal cancer. Two weeks later, Graham tries to deposit the check, but it doesn't work. Graham assures him that he will fix the problem, and he asks Mason to make another personal deposit until the check clears. After four months, Mason insists on flying to London to meet the bank president, Mr. Oliphant. Graham and Chevette put Mason up in a "bed and breakfast", where they are also staying. The next morning, Chevette tells Mason that Graham has had a seizure and is in the hospital. She admits that Graham is her husband and begs Mason for help paying for Graham's medical bills until they can reimburse him. Mason gives her all of his cash, then flies home without meeting Mr. Oliphant. Three months later, Mason has missed several mortgage payments and is receiving threatening letters from the bank. He calls his daughter Angelica, who lives in New York, and asks her for a loan. Suspicious, Angelica gets the story out of Mason and is furious that her father fell for such an obvious scam. After Mason loses his house, he is forced to move in with Angelica. But just before he leaves his old house, he receives a call from Graham, who assures him that the funds will arrive the next day, as long as he can make a personal deposit first.