A dangerous convict has escaped from the state penitentiary, and the alarm has gone out. The convict finds a house where a young wife is currently alone, waiting for her husband to return. He enters her kitchen, and threatens her with a knife. He listens to the radio to see how the search for him is coming, and then starts to give her orders.

One year ago, Mr. and Mrs. Borden were brutally murdered in their home, and it is widely believed that their daughter Lizzie committed the crimes, even though she was tried and acquitted. Lizzie and her sister Emma are still living in the same home, but Emma now plans to leave on a vacation to rest her nerves. The sisters' housemaid Margaret is also planning to leave, to avoid being alone with Lizzie. As Emma and Margaret discuss their plans, a woman arrives at the door, and introduces herself as a newspaper reporter. Emma desperately tries to get the visitor to leave, but the pushy reporter insists on questioning Emma about all of the details of the murders, bringing Emma to a state of near hysteria. In the midst of their confrontation, Lizzie herself comes down the staircase, and immediately takes control of the situation.

Two retired insurance salesmen have been visiting the scenes of accidents and crimes, feeling that they have a responsibility to learn why such things happen. One of them has found an aggressive, hostile woman whom he considers to be a prime candidate for a personal disaster. On a blisteringly hot day, the two follow her as she does some shopping, and watch as she antagonizes several persons. After some discussion, they decide to take a chance on helping her, and they go up to her apartment to talk to her.

A young man is picked up at a train station, taken to a nearby monastery, and met by Father Vincente, who is in charge of the monastery. The visitor introduces himself as Mr. Unser, and asks to see a friend named Rocco who is temporarily being cared for by the monks. But the priest realizes that the visitor is not Unser, but rather Clements, who blames Rocco for robbing him and ruining his life. Knowing that Clements has come for revenge, the priest returns the money that Rocco stole from him, but refuses to let him see Rocco. The priest urges Clements to forgive Rocco, but the young man remains consumed by hatred and anger, and persists in his efforts to gain revenge.

Henri and his brother Paul attend the reading of their uncle's will, and learn that their Aunt Rosalie inherits everything, but that after her death the two nephews are to share the income from the estate. The excitement of the two brothers is tempered by their present lack of resources. Rosalie has little regard for either of her nephews, and she determines to outlive them both. Paul decides to win over his aunt, and he soon moves in with her. The two brothers then look for a way to kill her without arousing suspicion.

Mark Halliday takes his wife to an art gallery, to show her a painting he has purchased for their first anniversary. But instead of the painting he had seen, he is given a portrait of his first wife Jocelyn, who disappeared five years ago. Both he and his new wife are shocked and upset, so Halliday shows the portrait to Jocelyn's brother, who locates the artist for him. When Halliday goes in search of the artist, he encounters further coincidences and confusing developments, suggesting that Jocelyn is living very close by.

Karen wakes up in an unfamiliar bed, with a hangover that's even worse than usual. She knows that by getting drunk again she has once more broken her promise to her boyfriend Jeff. Then she realizes that her hand is bandaged and badly injured, and she struggles to remember what happened the night before. She had gone to a party with Jeff, but she felt uncomfortable and lonely, and had started to drink. She tries to piece together the rest of the night, but all she can remember is being angry and drunk.

In 1940, a rich American named Latimer is visiting a club in England. Sir Stephen, a gambler deep in debt, befriends Latimer in the hope of winning some money from him. With the help of his friend Derek, Sir Stephen tells Latimer about a ghost that supposedly haunts a manor home that Sir Stephen owns. The ghost is supposed to appear and threaten anyone who tries to spend the night in a certain room of the house. Latimer agrees to bet 1000 pounds that he can make it through the night, and they agree on the terms. Latimer suspects that the two Englishmen plan some sort of trick, and he prepares himself accordingly.

A detective questions baby-sitter Lottie Slocum about the murder of Clara Nash, for whom Lottie had been working. Lottie exasperates the detective by her aimless chatter and her undisguised excitement. After the detective leaves, she tells a friend about the night of the murder. Lottie disliked Clara, who was separated from her husband and was seeing another man. Lottie is so vocal in her disapproval of Clara, and in her affection for Mr. Nash, that her friend wonders whether Lottie was somehow involved. Later, Lottie is threatened by the dead woman's boyfriend. She herself hopes that the situation will give her an opportunity to get closer to Mr. Nash.

When a young man sees his fiancée struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver, he is inconsolable. When questioned by the police, he is unable to remember anything that he saw, even though he wants very much to have the driver caught. A week later, he is visited by a stranger who claims he can help. The visitor tells him that his own son died in the same way, and he offers to help the young man to remember the license plate number that he saw, by using special memory recall methods. It's not clear, though, what the visitor's motive for helping might be.

After his boss tells him the firm is close to bankruptcy, Dick Paine agrees to work for half pay. Dick is nagged by his wife Beth into standing up for himself. He goes to his boss and demands the money he has not been paid. His boss refuses to give him the money and Dick must resort to murder.

Clarence Rankin's promiscuous wife Irene cheats on him constantly. Sadly, he knows nothing about it. One day, two of Clarence's friends stop by his house. They see him filling a large hole in his basement with cement. Since they don't see Irene, they believe that Clarence has found out about her cheating and killed her. Instead of going to the police, they talk to Clarence. They tell him that, given her cheating, his actions were probably justified. Clarence denies everything and says that his wife is on a trip. His friends leave after saying they will keep quiet. Later, Irene returns. Now knowing the truth, Clarence asks her to come down to the basement.

Radio warns of a mental patient escaped from a hospital into a severe New Mexico blizzard. At the rail-stop near the sanitarium, a huge, old cowboy boards the train & calms a rattled family with tall tales of the West, as the besieged train grinds to a halt. Totally entranced is the family's young boy, dressed as a gunslinger. Is the patient the old cowpoke?

John Brown and Company makes furniture and has been a solid business for years. But young Harold Skinner wants to shake things up and make modern furniture. John Brown will have none of it. Soon Harold meets John Brown's wife, an attractive woman in her 30s, who married for money -- though she denies it. Unlike her husband, she's excited about Skinner's modern ideas and wants to help him. Especially after the two of them become lovers. Harold comes up with a "wonderful horrible idea" to get John Brown out of the way: convince him he's losing his mind.

A shackled prisoner tries to tries to negotiate an escape while en route to San Quentin.

An insurance investigator and his wife look into the case of Mrs. Gillespie, who has been widowed twice -- and has twice enjoyed windfalls from her husbands' life insurance.

A former nurse learns that when her husband is away on business trips, he's seeing another woman

Inspector Davidson continues to investigate the murder of Count Mattoni, in part two of this three-part story

Inspector Davidson continues to investigate the murder of Count Mattoni -- and receives yet another confession. Final part of a three-part story