When an attractive young girl, Molly Stevens (Magda Miller), is found strangled to death near the British village of Oakley Park; Scotland Yard superintendent Mike Halloran (John Mills) is brought in to investigate the murder. Hostile to outsiders sticking their noses into their business, the townspeople react coldly to Halloran's questioning. The policeman soon uncovers a series of lies and deceptions centred on the town's upper-crust social club, which could ruin many reputations.