A savings and loan company is robbed by men displaying abnormal familiarity with the building. Police inquiries led by Lt. Sam Wagner discern that soft-spoken bank employee Leon Poole is complicit in the crime. Poole starts a gunfight when the police appear at his apartment, but surrenders after Sam accidentally shoots and kills Poole's wife (whom the police officers are told by the neighbours is not in the apartment, and whose presence Poole does not announce). She was, in Poole's words, the only person who respected him and made his life worth living. The teller is sentenced to a decade in prison for his part in the robbery, promising that someday he will have revenge on Wagner. Two years later, Sam has switched to a desk job at the behest of his wife Lila, who has feared his being killed on duty ever since she heard Poole threaten him. Poole, meanwhile, has been transferred to the prison's
honor farm for good behavior. But his mild demeanor was a deception; at the first opportunity he kills a guard and escapes. By the time the authorities discover his absence, Poole has also murdered a farmer, stolen this victim's truck and clothing, and driven towards the city where the Wagners live. He successfully passes through roadblocks and police patrols, having realized that nobody recognizes him when he takes off his distinctive glasses, needed for his extreme short-sightedness. Sam is asked to resume active duty and help with the case. Lila worries about him, but he tries to minimize the danger. Interviews with Poole's former cellmates make it clear that he is still obsessed with revenge, and that he plans to make Sam suffer by killing Lila. Sam sends Lila into hiding in the home of a police colleague but to prevent her worrying, does not explain why; she assumes he is using himself as bait to bring Poole into the open. She accuses Sam of preferring his job to her and threatens to leave him. He does not take the threat seriously and returns home, which has been made into a trap for Poole. Needing food and rest, Poole breaks into the home of his former army sergeant, Otto Flanders. While claiming he doesn't wish to harm her, he terrorises Flanders' wife until her husband comes home. Accustomed to bullying Poole during their military years, Flanders tries to intimidate the convict into surrendering. Poole kills him in cold blood, then leaves with a raincoat stolen from Flanders' wife. Exasperated after an interval of hiding, Lila decides to leave but Sam's colleague's wife finally tells her about Poole's real intentions, adding that all policemen's families face emotional strain and Lila is not taking it as bravely as she should. Ashamed, Lila leaves the hideout and heads home, wanting to reconcile with Sam whatever the risk. As she approaches her house, Poole begins following her, disguised in the stolen raincoat, with trousers rolled up to look from a distance like a woman. Keeping her wits, she leads him into the police ambush and he is shot down. Sam and Lila embrace as the police gather around Poole's corpse. ==Cast==