Straight On Till Morning

Brenda, a plain young woman from Liverpool, tells her mother she is moving to London to start anew. She hopes to meet a man who can be the father of her unborn baby. The decision sets the story in motion and plunges her into a dangerous new world.

Upon arriving in London, Brenda is bumped by an attractive young man named Peter, who barely acknowledges her. Her belongings scatter as she recovers in the crowded streets. This encounter foreshadows the unsettling power he will wield later.

Brenda moves into a grubby bedsit and soon lands a job at a fashionable boutique run by Jimmy Lindsay. She also takes a spare room from a coworker, Caroline, hoping to mingle at Caroline’s parties. The arrangement marks her tentative entry into a new social circle in the city.

Peter is introduced as someone who seems to live with an older alcoholic woman. He invites Brenda upstairs, and she goes into his room where, unseen, she begins screaming. The moment hints at a dangerous, unpredictable side to him.

Brenda learns Caroline is in bed with Joey, a coworker she liked, and she runs crying into the streets. On the way, she spots a scruffy dog and recognizes its owner as Peter. She grabs the dog and takes it back to her flat, unaware that Peter is watching.

Back at the flat, Brenda cleans the dog and pretties it up with a bow. Using the collar's address, she returns the dog to Peter's home. Peter lets her in, but pressures her to explain why she took the dog, and she admits she wanted to meet him and have a baby; he suggests she move in.

Peter kills his dog with a utility knife, ostensibly because it is now pretty. Brenda lies to Caroline, telling her she is moving in with her sick mother. The murder foreshadows the danger Brenda is stepping into.

Brenda’s mother grows worried and checks Caroline's flat, eventually calling the police. Caroline looks through Brenda’s old room and finds the dog's broken lead bearing Peter’s address. The trail of evidence pushes the case toward the authorities.

Caroline arrives at Peter's house, where the two share a bed that night. This encounter deepens the web of danger surrounding Brenda and showcases Peter's charming-but-menacing persona.

Peter murders Caroline in his bed with a utility knife, eliminating a rival who could threaten Brenda's future with him. Her disappearance seems to vanish into the shadows of his dangerous world.

Brenda returns to Peter's house, having undergone a total makeover; it seems she is trying to win his affection. Peter tells her he loves her exactly the way she was and enacts a fairy-tale narration that hints at his history of violence. Flashbacks in the storytelling suggest he has killed multiple women.

A few days later, missing-persons reports appear in the papers for Brenda and Caroline. Peter forbids Brenda to go out, tightening his grip on her life. The couple's uneasy happiness is strained by fear and surveillance.

Brenda shows signs she might be pregnant, and she and Peter seem momentarily happy. Peter leads her to the bedroom and plays a tape recording of him killing the dog and Caroline. Brenda becomes hysterical and tries to escape, but the doors are locked as he closes in.

Peter sits alone in his house after Brenda's inexplicable disappearance, with no sign of the woman who once wanted his baby. The film ends on a chilling stillness, hinting that Brenda's fate remains uncertain. The narrative leaves her fate unresolved as Peter’s ominous calm lingers.