In Los Angeles in the fall of 1947 war widow Jane Phillips, after four years in the WAVES, prepares to return to the home of her rich aunt in Westchester, New York. During her cross-country train ride, Jane experiences strange coincidences and sundry acts of violence — as though someone is trying to delay her homecoming. Now in her last illness, Aunt Susan is surrounded by various members of her strange family who are waiting impatiently for her to die. They'll stop at nothing to assure she doesn't alter her will to favor her beloved niece, leading to a hair-raising climax in this top-drawer Lockridge thriller.