One on Top of the Other is a GGP release. Susan, the ailing wife of a young San Francisco physician, George Dumurrier, dies shortly after a million-dollar insurance policy is issued on her life. George is suspected of murdering her. His efforts to prove his innocence lead him to Monica, a performer in a strip joint, who is the living image of Susan.

A series of bizarre incidents ensue, the doctor is unable to prove that he did not kill his wife and he is jailed, tried, and sentenced to be executed. While George is in jail, his brother, Henry, who is his partner in an elegant clinic confesses to him that he set up the insurance hoax, that the murder victim was not Susan, and that he is leaving the country to meet Susan with whom he has been having an affair for some time.

George does not tell the authorities of Henry's confession because he feels that nobody would believe him. The truth is learned, however, during a 24-hour stay of execution, when news reaches the San Francisco District Attorney of the murder in Paris of two American citizens whose passports identify them as Henry and Susan Dumurrier.