故事背景是舊金山市，薩姆·斯佩德和阿切爾是一對偵探搭檔。一位貴婦委託他們尋找她失蹤的妹妹，據說她與神秘男子瑟斯在一起。阿切爾著手調查這個案子時被殺，弗羅德·瑟斯也被謀殺，警方認為斯佩德可能與阿切爾的妻子艾娃有染而殺掉她的合夥人。斯佩德去拜訪貴婦，得知她真名叫布裡奇，曾與古特曼以及小流氓威爾默等人倒賣過古玩，古特曼找斯佩德請他們把一個無價之寶--「馬耳他之鷹」雕像搞到手。斯佩德搞到這座雕像，要求必須有一個人承擔謀殺阿切爾的責任，才能交出雕像……
Harry Dean is a career burglar set on stealing a piece of priceless art from the world's wealthiest man, Mr. Shahbandar. With the help of exotic showgirl Nicole Chang, he concocts the perfect scheme for how the robbery should go and lays it out point by point. However, when the team tries to execute the plan, perfection and reality don't quite match up, and Harry's vision begins to unravel in this twisty tale of a heist gone wrong.
An occult investigator buys the 150-year-old skull of the Marquis de Sade, which turns out to be possessed by evil spirits.
A lovely dame with dangerous lies employs the services of a private detective, who is quickly caught up in the mystery and intrigue of a statuette known as the Maltese Falcon.
With the help of their mentor Felix, a group of the best friends and first-time thieves steal a valuable statuette for a ruthless black market art dealer. After the amateurs botch the delivery of the objet d'art, the dealer kills Felix and forces the remaining four to "find" $1 million within a week's time or face certain death.
Prof. Erling and his financial backer Victor build a prototype time machine to snatch objects from the past. Latest find, a statuette, radiometrically dates to 5200 AD! When this draws colleague Richard Hedges to the island lab, Erling reveals that 20th-century objects put in the machine seem to be "traded" for analogous future objects by intelligent life. And on the sly, Victor's been trying to get a living visitor. Does the future need help, or is the present in danger?
A private eye and his girlfriend avenge his buddy, stabbed over a jade dragon.
Young art gallerist Katarina's dad suddenly goes missing. It turns out that her dad, a prominent art dealer, is kidnapped in Egypt by his former smuggle partner, who has been released due to the Arab spring. To save her father, Katarina has to find the hidden statue that the kidnapper demands as ransom.
A self-made owner of a soft-drink factory decides to give the entire plant to his naive nephew as a present. Now, as two women vie for his attention, he is entangled in the theft of an ancient statuette. Who is friend, and who is foe?