Rachel Penmark Carrie Wells is a bright but troubled girl who becomes the focal point of a troubling chain of events after she loses a penmanship medal to a classmate, Mark Daigler Chad Allen. On a school trip to the beach, she tries to press Mark to return the medal, but he refuses, and she pursues him onto a fishing pier. When he later disappears and is found, frantic attempts to revive him on the shore fail, and investigators rule the death an accidental drowning.
Christine Penmark [Blair Brown] is Rachel’s mother, and she spends time confiding in neighbors Monica Breedlove [Lynn Redgrave] and Emory Breedlove [David Ogden Stiers] as they watch a stream of grim TV reports about deaths in the neighborhood, including the memory of Christine’s own father. Christine recalls the death of a neighbor, Mrs. Post [Eve Smith], who had once adored Rachel. Christine becomes worried when Rachel seems unfazed by Mark’s death, while Monica and Emory reassure her that children often develop mental defenses to process trauma.
Christine visits Alice Fern [Anne Haney], the head of Fern Academy, to discuss Rachel’s future at the school. Ms. Fern explains Rachel may finish the current term but will not be welcomed back next semester due to concerns about her behavior. She notes that the penmanship medal is missing. Rachel denies stealing it, but admits she lied to Ms. Fern because she didn’t want to be blamed.
When Mark’s parents, Rita Daigler [Carol Locatell] and Fred Daigler [Weldon Bleiler], come by, Rita presses for the medal, certain Rachel had something to do with Mark’s death. Christine apologizes but insists they don’t know where the medal is. As the Daiglers leave, Rita mentions the bruises on Mark’s body, intensifying the tension around the incident.
Monica later stops by to retrieve a locket she’d given Rachel, planning to have the birthstone changed for her. Christine is stunned to find the penmanship medal while searching for the locket. Rachel admits she lied earlier and explains that she had asked Mark to let her see the medal and offered him money to let her carry it; he agreed, and she lied afterward to avoid blame.
A heated confrontation with Leroy Jessup [David Carradine] arises as he taunts Rachel with a theory about her potential guilt, while she counters his accusations with what she knows about him. They exchange information that could be used for blackmail, escalating the tension between them.
Christine begins to wonder whether a lack of morality can be hereditary. She experiences a nightmare in which she is a little girl being chased through a cornfield by a knife-wielding woman, Bessie Danker. She awakes to find a disturbing truth: she might be tied to Bessie Danker, since she is addressed as “Christine Danker.” The next day, Christine learns from Richard Bravo [Richard Kiley] that these nightmare details align with true memories—details they had kept from Christine after adopting her, believing she was too young to remember. This revelation leaves Christine fearing Rachel may have inherited psychopathy.
Leroy’s provocations about trace evidence of blood and the notion of an electric chair for children resurface, and Rachel becomes defensive yet also complicit in the web of fear and suspicion. When Christine discovers Rachel attempting to dispose of her cleated shoes, she realizes the shoes were used in Mark’s killing because they match the crescent-shaped bruises on his body. Leroy lies to Rachel, claiming he salvaged the shoes from the incinerator before they burned, but his deception only deepens the danger surrounding them. In a final, devastating turn, Rachel locks Leroy in a shed and sets it on fire, making him her next victim.
Tragically, Christine escalates into a murder-suicide attempt by giving Rachel sleeping pills and then shooting herself. Rachel survives the ordeal and, left with nowhere to go, goes to live with Richard Bravo. The film closes on a chilling note, underscoring themes of inherited trauma and the shadowy questions surrounding morality across generations.
