| Director | Nicholas Kazan |
|---|---|
| Genre | drama film, erotic thriller, mystery film, thriller film |
| Runtime | 100 min |
| Country | United States |
| Budget | $15 million |
| Box office | $256,264 |
Ray Reardon, a successful architect in Los Angeles, divorces his wife, and goes to a gallery opening to meet a blind date set up by his friend, Norman. While there, he bumps into an attractive young woman, making her spill wine on herself, and she verbally abuses him. A week later, Ray runs into the woman, Lena Mathers, at a supermarket. She apologizes for her behavior and the two go to dinner. They have sex the next night, marry shortly thereafter, and become parents.
Despite his happiness in the marriage and with his two children, Ray becomes suspicious after catching Lena in several lies about her past. An assistant for one of his clients went to Swarthmore College one year before Lena supposedly attended the same school. The assistant remembers the university president, Sam Shaw, dying of a heart attack while giving a university-wide talk; when Ray mentions the name "Sam Shaw" (but not his profession or heart attack) to Lena, Lena talks about Shaw as if he was a fellow student, clearly not knowing who Shaw was or having any recollection of the university president's death. A woman meets the couple at a restaurant and recognizes Lena as "Sissy" from Piru, Texas, but Lena says the woman has confused her for somebody else. Ray also finds out that Lena's "friends" who attended their wedding were temp agency workers hired by Lena.
A few years later, Ray visits Piru and is told by a town resident, Buddy, that a picture of Lena shown by Ray is "Sissy," a nickname for Thelma. Ray visits the family home and meets Lena's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Sneeder, who recognize Ray and know his name. Ray finds out that alleged beatings of Lena as a child by her mother did not happen, and that Lena told her parents Ray was an employee of the Central Intelligence Agency. Ray arranges for Lena's parents to visit and stay with them, which makes Lena clearly uncomfortable. After her parents' departure, Lena admits to Ray that she changed her identity from Thelma "Sissy" Sneeder to Lena Mathers and invented a new life story for herself because she wanted to escape from her town to avoid a life of poverty and likely marriage to Buddy. Lena also tells Ray she was in love with him from afar before they met, and that she deliberately engineered their supposedly accidental meeting.
Despite being unnerved by these revelations, Ray is still in love with his wife and attracted to her. However, Ray becomes increasingly paranoid when Lena sports bruises that she will not explain and begins doing things that indicate she is having an affair. During a tense confrontation, Lena taunts Ray by claiming to have had an affair with an unnamed friend of his and telling Ray his children might not be biologically his. Ray hits Lena and storms out of their penthouse apartment. Lena deliberately causes bruises to herself and damage to the home, framing Ray and having him arrested. Lena's psychiatrist, Dr. Stein, has Ray committed to a mental hospital for observation.
During a hearing to ascertain Ray's sanity, Dr. Stein reveals Lena had alleged longtime physical abuse by Ray, and that Ray is a danger to Lena; Ray vehemently denies both claims. Ray's friend Norman testifies against Ray, proving Ray's accusation of an affair with Lena are false, even though he admits being attracted to her. When Ray brings up Lena's hotel receipts, indicating an affair on her part, Lena claims her credit card was stolen and somebody else was booking the hotel under her name. Despite Ray's increasingly desperate attempt to prove that Lena has been lying, the judge finds Ray to be mentally incompetent and orders him held for six months. Shortly after being committed, Ray - under heavy sedation - is visited by Lena, who privately admits to him that his suspicions about her were correct and that she had planned this for years to get his money.
Ray devises a plan of revenge. He convinces Elaine – the wife of his friend Larry – to tell Lena that she made "a mistake" in her "master plan". Elaine suspects Lena has been having an affair with Larry, who secretly bought a house in New Zealand without Elaine's knowledge, and which might be an escape plan by Lena.
Lena shows up at the mental institution to talk to Ray. On the hospital grounds outside the building, Ray lures Lena away from the attendants who are supposed to be supervising him, having enlisted a fellow inmate to provide a distraction. Lena, who does not deny Ray's accusation that she is a psychopath, confirms her affair with Larry and says she will dispose of him as she did Ray. Ray compliments Lena on her scheme but tells her that having him declared insane was the "mistake" because he could not now be held legally accountable for killing her. Ray proceeds to strangle Lena to death on the lawn.