With a terminal diagnosis that has left him with just months to live, insurance salesman Peter (Jerry Lewis) decides to take an extravagant, around-the-world fishing tour. Mid-trip, Peter is informed by his doctor, Scott (Peter Lawford), that a malfunctioning electrocardiograph had caused a misdiagnosis and he will live. Now, faced with crippling debt from his travels, Peter resolves to fake his own death to secure a life insurance claim for his wife, Nancy (Anne Francis).