The Scapegoat

John Standing loses his job and crosses paths with his doppelgänger, Johnny Spence, in a hotel. Spence goads him into getting drunk and shares a reckless, chaotic energy. The next morning, Standing wakes disoriented, missing his clothes and wallet as Spence is gone.

Chased by confusion, Standing is collected by George, the chauffeur for the Spence family. He is taken to the family’s grand home and struggles to explain what happened. The arrival marks the beginning of his immersion into the Spence world.

Standing is drawn into the Spence household and thrust into the family and their faltering business. He confronts the wife, mother, sister, daughter, and two mistresses (Nina and Bela) as he navigates a precarious balance. The glass business’s looming failure forces him to improvise and protect the family’s interests.

To delay the inevitable collapse, Standing pretends to have signed a contract with a major customer. The ruse buys time but increases the risks as everyone watches his every move. The deception further entangles him with Spence’s family dynamics.

Standing discovers that Paul, Spence’s younger brother, is capable but lacking confidence. This realization highlights Standing’s own fragile grip on the family and the business. It also foreshadows how different people might salvage or fail the enterprise.

Standing learns the only money left to save the glass business is Frances’s trust fund. The fund will only pay out if Frances has a male heir or if she predeceases her husband. The condition makes Frances a pivotal, vulnerable figure in the family’s fate.

Spence returns to the house to retrieve his gun and unexpectedly discovers Standing sleeping with Frances. He exploits their strengthened relationship to advance his own plans. Standing becomes a pawn in Spence’s manipulation of the household.

While Standing is away at a shooting party lunch with the family, Spence manipulates Frances into taking an overdose of morphine. The aim is to secure the trust funds and rescue the business, at the cost of Frances’s life. Frances sacrifices herself for the family’s future.

Piglet, Frances’s young daughter, sees the glimpse of the affair and confronts Standing. Confusion and fear ripple through the house as the truth surfaces. Standing hurries toward the house to address the fallout.

Standing returns to the house to confront the consequences and is aided by Charlotte, the family nurse, to revive Frances who is barely alive. The rescue marks a turning point in whether Standing can maintain the illusion or be exposed. The fragile balance of the household hangs on this moment.

Standing confronts Spence at the glass foundry. Spence offers him a share of the money and forces him to swap clothes, intending to kill him and dispose of his body. The confrontation sets up the deadly climax that will decide the fate of the entire family.

A struggle ensues and Spence is killed during the confrontation. Standing escapes the attempt on his life and begins to plan his next move. The power shift cements the grim turn of the plot.

Back at the house, Charlotte reveals she’s seen through Standing’s disguise and urges him to remain with the family. The moral and emotional stakes have to be resolved in the final arc. Standing’s fate now hinges on whether he can remain acceptable to the Spence clan.

In the closing scene, Standing is seen with the Spence family, including Frances who is pregnant, watching the Coronation on a newly acquired television set. The film ends with a cautiously hopeful, if morally ambiguous, sense of belonging. The new television symbolizes modernity entering the household that Standing has infiltrated.