Though still mentally shaky, convicted axe-murderess Lucy Harbin (Joan Crawford) is released from the asylum where she was sent 20 years ago for slaying her unfaithful husband. Lucy goes to stay at her brother's farm and reconnect with her grown daughter, Carol (Diane Baker), who saw her mother chop her father to pieces as a tot. Carol helps Lucy regain her old glamorous look -- but suspects that history might be repeating itself when anyone who angers her mother turns up hacked to death.