After mercifully killing her terminally ill lover, Dr. Christine Allison (Susan Hayward) loses her medical license and spends two years in prison. Once she has completed her sentence, the lawyer who prosecuted Christine, Stephen Dane (Peter Finch), hires her to care for his emotionally unstable wife, Liane (Diane Cilento). Christine takes the job, but when Liane's allegedly dead father (Cyril Cusack) reappears, Christine sets out to reveal the family's dark secrets.