James and Carmona Hardwick are spending the summer playing host to numerous friends and relatives in an old Hardwick family residence by the sea. The arrival of Alan Field, a devastantingly handsome though shady figure from Carmona's past, destroys the holiday atmosphere in the ugly old house and replaces it with mounting tension, culminating in murder. Fortunately for the Hardwicks and their guests, Miss Silver is present to unravel the secrets from the past--secrets the killer will stop at nothing to keep hidden.