London, 1912. A man who runs a small shop may get drunk too much. And he may not have been the best father in the world. In fact, his 35-year-old son has proved to be worthless. Can't keep a job. Always borrowing money from his father and not paying it back. But Joe Saunders is going to do right by his son just this once: he's not going to lend him any more money. The boy will have to get it on his own. The trouble is, Sam Saunders needs the money to persuade a cheap showgirl to run off with him. And he'll do anything to get it. Meanwhile, an old friend pays Joe a late-night visit.

The Judge and Wallace Donaldson sit in the former's drawing room, drink amontillado and have a painfully civilized conversation. What makes it painful, on both sides, is that young Mr. Donaldson is about to take away the old judge's young, beautiful wife. The tense meeting is not made more relaxing by the Judge's quotations from Aristotle and Plato. It's even less relaxing when the Judge takes out his pistol.

Martin Ross is a district attorney with a fighting chance at his party's nomination for governor. But Martin's brother, Richard, wants him to have more than a fighting chance. So, as the other candidate takes a shower at his country club, Richard walks in with a gun and a silencer and walks out with one less bullet. The sheriff calls Martin and tells him the news of the murder. Later, he has a suspect: the victim's teenage caddy. But Martin already knows his brother is the real murderer. And Richard takes Martin's wife hostage to ensure than no one else finds out.

Mobster Louis "The King" Koster believes that his wife and sole heir is unfaithful. He hires a hit man to kill her for twenty thousand dollars. The hit-man agrees, but he then shoots Koster dead. The hit-man was Marian's lover. Since she will inherit everything, the hit-man decided to go with the better bargain.

Mary Summers does not want to stay alone at home when her husband Arthur goes away on business. She asks that her family be allowed to stay with her. Arthur refuses her request. While Arthur is away an escaped mental patient breaks into the house. Surprisingly, the mental patient gets along with Mary. She is not afraid of him. She tells him about a dream she has had where someone follows her up the stairs. When the police arrive, the mental patient makes an escape. After the the police leave, Mary hears someone coming up the stairs just like in her dream. She find's Arthur's pistol as the door opens. At the door is Arthur. He came home early when he heard about the escape at the asylum. Even though she knows its him, Mary shoots him. She then calls her family and tells them she is coming home.

Ellen and Steve live in a New York neighborhood that is being terrorized by a strangler known only as the Creeper. Ellen wants a new lock for her apartment door in order to be safe. She becomes more paranoid until a locksmith arrives. As the locksmith begins work, Steve calls. He tells Ellen that the Creeper has been using his job as a locksmith to get into the homes of his victims. The news comes a little too late as the Creeper attacks Ellen and begins to strangle her.

Clint is determined to marry Ellie, the county's schoolteacher, and he is building a house for them to live in. But Ellie is not interested, and she tells him that she has just become engaged to another man. Clint is enraged, and when he meets Ellie's fiancé, he kills him with an ax. He decides to hide in the bell tower of Ellie's schoolhouse, since he thinks no one will look for him there. He also likes the idea of being close to Ellie, so that he can have the chance to strike back at her too.

Rowdy Yates is accused of murder, and has to alert the Army to a bandit assault.

A woman is trapped during a storm in a house with no electricity or phone. A killer has murdered her sister, stuffed the body in the basement, and is now after her.