Ten guests travel by aerial tramway to a snowbound mansion, invited by Mr. U.N. Owen to spend a quiet weekend far from the world. They soon discover that none of them has ever met Owen, not even his secretary, and the couple who keep house—the married housekeeper and the cook—were all hired through an agency. The atmosphere tightens with a sense of mystery as framed copies of the nursery rhyme “Ten Little Indians” loom over each guest’s room, and a dinner tray adorned with ten little Indian figurines is delivered by the mansion’s own staff, including Joseph Grohmann, the loyal butler who seems to know more than he lets on. The moment is further sharpened when, at exactly 9 p.m., a hidden tape recording is played, and a voice identifying as Owen accuses each guest of a terrible secret connected to the deaths of innocent people.
What follows is a chilling march of suspicion and death. One by one, the guests fall victim to carefully staged dangers and misdirections. The first fatality comes when Mike Raven chokes after taking a drink, and a small Indian figurine is deliberately broken from the centerpiece. By morning, the tram’s cable has been cut, and the cook—Elsa Grohmann—perishes while attempting to escape. The group splits into pairs as General Mandrake tries to lead a search through the chalet’s catacombs, only to be murdered after a planted distraction (a cat) diverts attention. The killer seems to be following the rhyme to the letter, and fear gnaws at every conversation.
Romance and distrust mingle as Ann Clyde enters a tentative relationship with engineer Hugh Lombard, while the others realize that Owen is not their host but one of the guests. After a number of close calls and accusations, the fate of the guests grows bleaker, and Joseph Grohmann attempts a perilous escape down Devil’s Leap, only to die when his lifeline is severed. Ilona Bergen Ilona Bergen finally confesses to driving her husband to suicide, and her own life ends soon after, murdered by a syringe. The remaining party members scramble to stay alive as the mansion’s generator fails, plunging them into total darkness.
During dinner, every survivor airs suspicions and accusations, but Ann retreats to her room after learning of new revelations. She screams when she discovers an Indian decoy hanging from the ceiling, a shocking reminder that the rules of the game are cruelly literal. Judge Arthur Cannon Judge Arthur Cannon is found with a gunshot wound, and Dr. Edward Armstrong’s warnings about Ann become a flashpoint for the group’s paranoia. Lombard reveals a crucial truth: his own name is Charles Morley, and the man who died as Lombard is not the real Lombard but a friend who killed himself; Morley had borrowed Lombard’s identity to uncover the reason behind that tragedy.
In the morning, the investigation tightens. Det. William Henry Blore Det. William Henry Blore discovers that Armstrong has vanished, and a search unfolds. Blore, Morley, and Ann converge on the snowbound grounds, where Blore is crushed by a large bear statue. Ann and Morley soon find Armstrong’s body in the snow and conclude that the killer must be one of them. A desperate confrontation ensues, and Ann shoots at Morley, but Morley remains alive only briefly before succumbing to his fate. The fragile balance shatters as Judge Cannon—who had been manipulating events from the shadows—dies after swallowing poison, and Morley reappears, dying moments later. With Cannon’s plan collapsing in on itself, Ann and Morley share a breath of relief and a kiss, realizing they have outlasted the trap—yet the cat sits calmly by the fruit tray, and only two Indians remain attached.
In the end, the chilling rhythm of the rhyme has played out in full: a group of strangers, each haunted by a past mistake, is picked off one by one until only two are left to face the consequences of their actions and the unresolved questions that still cling to them. The mansion’s silent snow outside mirrors the cold truth inside: the game has revealed not only who among them is capable of murder, but how far people will go to survive when morality itself seems suspended. The story closes on a quiet, unsettling note, leaving the survivors to contemplate their choices and the heavy cost of secrets kept in the name of self-preservation.
