During a lunchtime tryst in a Phoenix, Arizona, hotel, real-estate secretary Marion Crane and her boyfriend, Sam Loomis, discuss how they cannot afford to get married because of Sam's debts. After lunch, Marion returns to work where a client leaves a $40,000 cash payment on a property. Marion's boss asks her to deposit the money in the bank and allows her to leave early after she complains of a headache. Once home, she decides to steal the money and drive to Sam's home in Fairvale, California. En route to Fairvale, Marion stops her car on the side of the road and falls asleep. She is awakened the next morning by a California Highway Patrol officer. Suspicious of her nervous behavior, the officer follows her. Marion stops at a Bakersfield automobile dealership and trades in her car, which has Arizona license plates, for another car with California plates. The officer eyes her suspiciously as she drives away.