provides accommodations for tourists in her rambling old ancestral home on the Boston Post Road in Connecticut. Her sister May and unemployed brother-in-law George live with her. George is obsessed with short-wave radio, tuning in to police calls and foreign stations. Emily's only boarder is Rev. Cartwright, an itinerent preacher who comes and goes. When a young traveling couple, Bill and Celia, stop by to look for a room, Cartwright discourages them. May and George are unable to counter his influence, and the couple departs for a motel with more amenities. Jeeby, a strongly-built taciturn teenager, once more delivers an incomplete and mixed-up assortment of clean laundry, to Emily's consternation. A limousine pulls up to the house, and Dr. Spender enters seeking a room for his patient, a young woman who has been taken ill while travelling. He and Nurse Martin take the Girl to a room, while the chauffer Matt brings in her luggage. Dr. Spender confides that the Girl is the unmarried daughter of a prominent Episcopalian bishop, hence they don't want to reveal her name. Later that night noises from the girl's room seem to indicate she is giving birth, and soon a baby's cries are heard in the living room. Dr. Spender and Matt depart, leaving Nurse Martin to care for the baby. The infant remains in the room with the Girl, and only an occasional cry is heard from it during the next week. Dr. Spender and Matt return, bringing more things for the baby. The Girl is pronounced well-enough to leave the room, while Emily, May, and George finally get to see the baby boy. The Girl seems restless and uninterested in her infant. She tries to get music from George's radio but it only produces static. Later, George is able to tune into a police call about the recent kidnapping of a baby. Emily, holding a baby doll that Nurse Martin used to calm the infant, suddenly realizes the noise it makes is the same that they have been hearing the past week. The Girl, bored and rebellious, wants to leave. Rev. Cartwright and Dr. Spender, who seem to know each other, warn her against trying to travel so soon. While Nurse Martin holds the baby, the Girl leaves the house, clearly frightened, followed by Matt, while Spender and Cartwright watch. State Trooper Virgil Beamis and his partner Jay visit the Madison mansion,