The
morbidly obese Ethel Janowski has been institutionalized because of her bouts of
depression and violence, but is being released into her grandmother's care despite Dr. Gerard's unease about her discharge. Upon moving into her grandmother's home, Ethel consumes massive amounts of food, repeatedly and harshly claiming that the institution employees had tried to starve her to death. Mrs. Janowski tries to stop Ethel's gorging by emptying the refrigerator and locking the cupboards, and Ethel indignantly battles her. When Mrs. Janowski threatens to call Dr. Gerard, Ethel stabs her grandmother to death, then stabs her hand to get the cabinet key she was grasping in a
death grip. Ethel locks her grandmother's corpse in a bedroom and places an order for more food. When delivery boy Glen Dickie arrives with the groceries, Ethel does not have nearly enough money, and she stabs Dickie with a broken bottle when he tries to leave with the order. Ethel's prostitute sister Rosalie arrives and announces that she will be staying for a few days. Ethel ignores calls from her doctor and attempts to cover up the odor of her decaying victims when Rosalie complains about the smell coming from the locked bedroom. At a bar one night, Rosalie runs into John, her unfaithful, abusive ex-boyfriend and
pimp. John follows Rosalie home and manages to get on her good side, and the two have sex in her bed. Dr. Gerard visits, wanting to know why Ethel has been missing her appointments with him. Ethel bludgeons the doctor with a
candlestick holder and puts his body with the others. Three days after the murder of the delivery boy, Detective Sergeant McDonough visits to question Ethel about his disappearance, and leaves after Ethel gives a few evasive statements. That night, Rosalie and John, unable to tolerate the stink coming from Mrs. Janowski's sealed room any longer, decide to break down the door in the morning. After they go back to bed, Ethel murders them with a
cleaver. Detective McDonough returns to interview Ethel again, and although she gives contradictory information, the detective leaves without incident. Ethel proceeds to dismember her victims, stuff the pieces into sacks, and drive them out to a seaside area to dump them into the ocean. But too many witnesses are around, so she is forced to take the bags back home and drag them back into the house; on the way in she forgets to close her car's trunk. A suspicious neighbor peers into it, finds a severed hand, and calls the police. In the end, Detective McDonough walks in on Ethel eating one of her dead grandmother's arms. == Cast ==