Một nông dân đơn giản nhưng đầy kiêu hãnh vào năm 1922 đã âm mưu giết vợ vì lợi ích tài chính, thuyết phục con trai tuổi teen tham gia. Sau đó, một loạt những chuyện không may đã xảy đến ám ảnh cuộc đời của hai bố con họ.
In small-town Texas, affable and popular mortician Bernie Tiede strikes up a friendship with Marjorie Nugent, a wealthy widow well known for her sour attitude. When she becomes controlling and abusive, Bernie goes to great lengths to remove himself from her grasp.
A young woman commits a hit-and-run, then finds her fate tied to her victim.
A writer accidentally shoots his blackmailer and tries to hide the body.
After moving into a boardinghouse, a young woman becomes the object of her lonely neighbor's obsessions.
A labor party leader is having an affair with the opposing party's secretary. Unfortunately for them, there seems to be a corpse in their hotel room just as they managed to sneak in unnoticed.