Francis, a brooding pianist named by his mother after Liszt, longs to be on the classical stage, but instead plays the requests of inebriated guests at a hotel lounge. At an elementary school where he is enrolling his young daughter, 25-year-old Francis meets and falls in love with Halley, a lonely teacher living with her father. Halley and Francis embark on a passionate affair and Francis acquires a new confidence. But when a girl goes missing from Halley's school, their relationship begins unravelling. A private detective is hired to investigate the disappearance and he muses out loud to a gathering of teachers about the workings of a murderer's mind. Clues are embedded in the tiniest of details, they are told. At a school picnic another child goes missing. Francis finds the girl, but his heroism is short-lived when Halley begins to suspect that something is very wrong.