Paula Alquist, a late 19th century English singer studying music in Italy, abandons her studies because she's fallen in love with dapper, handsome Gregory Anton. The couple marries and returns to the U.K. and a home inherited by Paula from her aunt, herself a famous singer, who was mysteriously murdered in the house ten years before. Once they have moved in, Gregory, who is in reality a jewel thief and the murderer of Paula's aunt, launches a campaign of terror designed to drive his new bride insane.