Vic and Melinda Van Allen are a couple living in a loveless marriage in the small town of Little Wesley. In order to accommodate Melinda while avoiding divorce, it has also become an
open marriage within which Melinda is permitted to stray as long as she does not desert her family. Vic becomes fascinated with the unsolved murder of one of Melinda's former lovers, Malcolm McRae, and takes credit for it in order to successfully drive away her current fling. When the real murderer is apprehended, the community interprets Vic's false claim as a dark joke. Melinda begins a new relationship with a local pianist, Charley De Lisle. One night, at a party held in the home of their neighbors, the Cowans, Vic and Charley find themselves alone in the backyard swimming pool. Impulsively, Vic drowns Charley, leaves the pool, and feigns surprise when Charley's body is discovered. His death is attributed to a cramp, although Melinda is immediately suspicious of her husband. The townsfolk begin to move on from the event, although some, particularly Don Wilson, a local
pulp writer, begin to suspect Vic of foul play. Melinda demands Vic admit his guilt and accuses him in front of their friends, but Vic is undaunted, finding a sense of superiority in having got away with the crime. A newcomer to Little Wesley, Harold Carpenter, claims to be a psychiatrist at the local asylum. Vic deduces that he is really a private detective hired by Don and Melinda. Carpenter leaves town, unable to incriminate Vic. Melinda eventually finds a new lover, a surveyor from New York named Tony Cameron. Vic privately offers Melinda a divorce and she finally accepts, saying that Tony has offered to take her to his next assignment in Mexico. Vic runs into Tony in town and offers him a lift. Vic drives Tony to the local quarry where he kills him and disposes of his body in the quarry's reservoir. An investigation is opened into Tony's sudden disappearance. Many of the neighbors refuse to cooperate due to Vic's good standing and the police's theory that Tony and Melinda were planning to run away together. Vic escapes apprehension once more and, to his surprise, finds Melinda more courteous, even loving, toward him, which suggests to him that she wishes for them to start over again. When she attempts to use this new openness to draw Vic into confessing to the murders of Charley and Tony, Vic suspects it to be a last-ditch ruse concocted by Melinda and Don. Melinda finally implements a plan to bring Vic and Don to the quarry at the same time, where Don finds blood stains and Vic checks the reservoir to ensure Tony's body has not resurfaced. Vic knows, as the two of them leave, that Don will be going directly to the police. Vic returns home, and in a sudden rage, strangles Melinda to death. At that moment, Don arrives with a policeman and Vic is led away. ==Reception==