Dulcima, treated as a drudge by her family, becomes a housekeeper to Parker, a curmudgeonly widower living in drunken disarray on a neighbouring farm. When she sees the amount of money he has stashed around the place, Dulcima is happy enough to indulge his growing desire for her, and a strange, yet mutually beneficial, relationship dev...

When a ransom bid results in the death of a child, the police have only one lead – the old lady who witnessed the kidnapper using a public phone box. Though her recollection is vague, she volunteers to act as bait for the killer – telling the press that she had seen the kidnapper's face and she waits for him to attack.