As told to a psychiatrist: Mr. Peabody, middle-aged Bostonian on vacation with his wife in the Caribbean, hears mysterious, wordless singing on an uninhabited rock in the bay. Fishing in the vicinity, he catches…a mermaid. He takes her home and, though she has no spoken language, falls in love with her. Of course, his wife won’t believe that thing in the bathtub is anything but a large fish. Predictable complications follow in rather tame fashion.

In the border town of San Pablo, preparing for an annual ‘Mexican Fiesta,’ the tough, mysterious and laconic Gagin arrives. His mission is to find the equally mysterious Frank Hugo, evidently for revenge, or is it for blackmail? FBI agent Retz is also after the elusive Hugo. Everyone in town is enigmatic, especially Pila, a mystical young woman who follows Gagin around after premonitions of his death. The story includes a classic femme fatale and an antique carousel with a pink horse.

When the Lemon Drop Kid accidentally cheats gangster Moose Moran (Fred Clark) out of his track winnings, the Kid promises to repay Moose the money by Christmas. Creating a fake charity for “Apple Annie” Nellie Thursday, the Kid tricks his gang into donning Santa suits and “collecting dough for old dolls” like Nellie who have nowhere to live. Radio personality Marilyn Maxwell assists as the Kid’s girlfriend, while William Frawley and Jay C. Flippen play the lovable, gruff crooks that fall for the Kid’s Santa scam.

Gregory Peck is a boisterous sea captain in the Pacific Coast, circa 1850, who has a plan to buy Alaska from the Russians… if they don’t kill him first.