The film's intricate plot hinges on a series of nested deceptions. Cody intentionally confesses to a minor crime to secure an alibi for a brutal train robbery, unaware that the Treasury Department has planted undercover agent Hank Fallon in his cell as 'Vic Pardo.' The pivotal emotional twist occurs when Cody, after escaping prison with Pardo, discovers that his mother has been murdered in the back by his usurping rival Big Ed—though Verna cleverly manipulates Cody into believing Ed acted entirely alone to save her own life.
The climax at the chemical plant unravels when Pardo manages to use a radio oscillator to signal the police. Cody's discovery of Pardo's true identity shatters his last remaining tether to humanity. Surrounded, wounded, and utterly alone, Cody refuses to surrender. He climbs a massive spherical gas tank and, in a moment of apocalyptic triumph and total psychological collapse, shoots the tank, immolating himself while screaming to his dead mother. The ending reveals that Cody's ultimate goal was never wealth, but a twisted, Oedipal ascension to validation.