David Ballard, a struggling American businessman in desperate need of money, Cliff Robertson devises a plan: using psychological manipulation, he can compel his rich English wife, Dominique Ballard Jean Simmons, to commit suicide, thus enabling him to inherit her family's estate and assets. His scheme seems to work when Dominique’s body is found hanging in her greenhouse, but David soon finds himself haunted by what he believes is Dominique’s vengeful ghost. The presence unsettles him at every turn, turning ordinary days into tense, nerve-wracking moments as he becomes convinced that the specter is determined to torment him for his crime. His grip on reality begins to fray as he erases memories, misreads signals, and grows increasingly paranoid, until a final, fatal flight from the illusion ends with his own death.
As the truth begins to reveal itself, the supposed ghost is unmasked as a far more terrestrial threat: his half-sister, Ann Ballard [Jenny Agutter] Ballard, who has enlisted the help of the man she loves, Tony Calvert [Simon Ward], the Ballards’ chauffeur who had ingratiated himself with Dominique before her death. Ann leverages her acting past to stage an elaborate deception, using fake apparitions and convincing makeup to push her plan forward, all while she intends to snatch the family fortune for herself. Tony, who has earned Dominique’s trust and holds a pivotal place in the scheme, agrees to assist her in exchange for a large cut of the spoils, seemingly playing both sides to secure his own future.
Yet the web of deceit begins to unravel when Tony produces an audio recording that reveals a shocking reversal: the real Dominique had actually been alive and complicit in the ruse, until she was killed to keep the scheme from collapsing. The recording makes it sound as though Ann had cooked up the entire plot without Tony’s knowledge, throwing Ann’s carefully constructed alibi into question. Tony’s uneasy admission that he intends to keep the recording to force Ann’s silence, and that he had always planned to take his own share and walk away, exposes the depth of the betrayal.
In a brutal escalation, Ann takes matters into her own hands and murders Tony with a revolver—the same weapon the couple had previously used as part of their deception. The climax leaves Ann standing over Tony’s corpse, the weight of the night’s revelations pressing down on her as the screen fades. The film lingers on the consequences of manipulation, greed, and lies, showing how far some will go to claim wealth and secure a future, and leaving viewers to ponder the price of deceit within a family.
Through a tight, twisting narrative, the story explores themes of trust, illusion, and the fragility of sanity, all set against a backdrop of lavish interiors and shadowy corridors. The performances—anchored by Jean Simmons as Dominique and Jenny Agutter as Ann, with Simon Ward delivering a chilling turn as Tony—drive the suspense and reveal, weaving a tale where relationships are weaponized and the line between illusion and reality becomes dangerously blurred.
