A young man is picked up at a train station, taken to a nearby monastery, and met by Father Vincente, who is in charge of the monastery. The visitor introduces himself as Mr. Unser, and asks to see a friend named Rocco who is temporarily being cared for by the monks. But the priest realizes that the visitor is not Unser, but rather Clements, who blames Rocco for robbing him and ruining his life. Knowing that Clements has come for revenge, the priest returns the money that Rocco stole from him, but refuses to let him see Rocco. The priest urges Clements to forgive Rocco, but the young man remains consumed by hatred and anger, and persists in his efforts to gain revenge.

Engineer-turned-executive Fred Staples is excited to start his new job at the big firm that acquired his factory. But before long, he realizes he’s being groomed to replace Bill Briggs, a friendly long-timer who’s lost favor with the cruel CEO, Walter Ramsey. Rather than fire Briggs, Ramsey sabotages and humiliates him in an effort to force his resignation — and make the reticent Staples his new right-hand man.

"Patterns" was an American television play broadcast live on January 12, 1955, remade as a film the next year with some of the same cast. Fred Staples is the newest executive in a large firm. He strikes up a friendship with Andy Sloane, the Vice President to whom he nominally reports. Staples is good at his job and the company's hard-nosed president, Walter Ramsey, is pleased with his choice. Staples has a crisis of conscience when Ramsey tells him that he's been recruited to replace Sloane, someone who has devoted his entire life to the company at the expense of his family. Sloane knows what Ramsey is up to but digs in his heels and refuses to quit. Tragedy ensues forcing Staples to make a choice.