Archie Wayne, successful playwright, could not say what impulse had made him return to the small town of his boyhood. On impulse, he called on his boyhood friend, and the matter would have ended there had he not met and fallen for his friend's daughter, the young and innocent Christine. Their brief idyll is interrupted by a police enquiry: Archie's wife Irma is missing, leaving behind a disquieting message, and he finds himself suspect number one in a possible murder case. But Archie is convinced that Irma is alive and trying to ruin him - and tragedy and violence will take their toll on both the guilty and innocent in the search for the truth.