What’s the Matter with Helen?

Leonard Hill and Wesley Bruckner are loaded into a paddy wagon to face life sentences for the murder of Ellie Banner. Their mothers, Helen Hill and Adelle Bruckner, push through a crowd to reach their car in a tense scene. The looming fate of both families sets the somber tone for what follows.

In the car, Helen tends a wound and receives an anonymous phone call: 'I'm the one who cut you... I wanted to see you bleed.' The caller threatens to make the mothers pay for their sons' sins. The fear and secrecy push the women toward drastic changes.

Helen and Adelle decide to leave Iowa behind, change their names, and relocate to Hollywood. They open a dance academy for little girls dreaming of stardom, hoping to rebuild their lives through show business. The move marks a sharp break from their past.

Hamilton Starr, an elocution teacher, offers his services to the sisters' school, provoking Helen's unease. Adelle accepts his help, believing it could boost the academy's appeal. Helen remains wary of Starr's looming, predatory presence.

The strange phone calls resume, and Helen believes someone is watching their home. She experiences unsettling visions, including a show scene where she seems to see Starr holding a knife. The escalating paranoia threatens to unravel the sisters' fragile alliance.

Adelle grows close to Lincoln Palmer, the father of a student, while Helen's jealousy over the romance grows. The new relationship provides a flicker of happiness amid fear. The sisters' personal tensions intensify as their home life becomes unstable.

Helen's jealousy erupts into a fight with Adelle, who demands that Helen move out. Adelle heads off on a date with Lincoln, while Helen prepares to leave as well. The conflict deepens the rift between them.

An intruder enters the house and calls Helen by her real name. She pushes him down the stairs, and he dies with a gruesome head wound. The death triggers flashbacks to her late husband and Ellie Banner's murder, intensifying her descent.

Adelle helps drag the dead man to a street hole near their home, and they dump him into the open trench under pouring rain. The body is discovered the next morning, and it is presumed he fell into the hole. The cover-up barely holds as guilt gnaws at them.

Helen seeks atonement at the church and confesses to Sister Alma. Alma forgives her, but Helen's irrational behavior leads to a dramatic public scene and Adelle's attempt to calm things. A doctor eventually orders bedrest for Helen.

Adelle continues her relationship with Lincoln and, after a date at a miniature golf course, he proposes. Returning home, Adelle finds Helen not in her room and follows a trail of blood to a rabbit cage. She discovers the rabbits slaughtered, and Helen reveals she killed her husband by pushing him off a plow.

Adelle leads Helen into the house and, while on the phone with Sister Alma, lets slip plans to wed Lincoln. Helen then pulls a knife from her robe and stabs Adelle in the back. A detective arrives and shows a photo of the man Helen pushed down the stairs, linking the incident to Ellie Banner's murder.

Lincoln arrives, hoping to whisk Adelle away, but the scene is interrupted by a Goody Goody piano motif echoing from the street. He follows the sound to the rehearsal hall, where he finds Helen gleefully dancing with Adelle's corpse, dressed in her dance costume and chained to a ladder.

The film ends with Helen laughing maniacally, fully embracing her insanity after the horrific events. The final image confirms the depth of trauma and the collapse of the family she once protected. Lincoln's arrival and the revelation of the bodies seal the tragic, unsettling ending.