Movie star Alan Ladd played Dan Holiday, retired newspaperman turned fiction writer and adventurer extraordinaire. To gain ideas for his books, Holiday placed an ad in the Star-Times newspaper: "Adventure wanted—will go anywhere, do anything—Box 13." It wasn't long before his Box 13 became jammed with adventures galore.

Holiday always had more adventure than he had originally sought because those who responded to his ad never revealed all of their glorious, unusual, and sometimes sinister details until they met in person and the adventure had already begun. Sylvia Picker played Holiday's scatterbrained secretary, Suzy. Suzy added touches of humor to the mystery-adventure and nail-biting storylines.

Box 13 was produced by Mayfair Productions, a company run by Alan Ladd and Richard Sandville. The name came from Mayfair Restaurant, which Ladd and Sandville owned during World War II. In addition to producing Box 13, Ladd also wrote some of the scripts.

Episodes include:

The First LetterInsurance FraudBlackmail Is MurderActor's AlibiExtra, ExtraShanghaiedShort AssignmentDouble MothersBook of PoemsThe Great TorinoSuicide or MurderTriple Cross