Francine has been scolded and sent to her room. When she peeks downstairs she glimpses a visitor as he brutally murders her mother. For the next nine months Francine will be mute, and when she speaks she will be unable to identify the killer.... Harriet, an aging, fading beauty, scans the local classified ads for handymen to perform odd jobs around the house and to alleviate in her bedroom the boredom of her marriage to a wealthy, older man.... Born to a pair of feckless, barely socialized parents, never played with, cuddled, or even talked to, Teddy has become a very handsome young man who never questions his discovery that killing is an easy way to get what he wants....