Ann Sutton (Gene Tierney), the wife of Dr. William Sutton, a successful psychoanalyst (Richard Conte), is arrested for shoplifting. Ann is saved from scandal by smooth-talking hypnotist David Korvo (José Ferrer). Korvo persuades the store officials to put the mermaid pin she stole on her credit account, and not prosecute. He pressures her into coming to lunch with him, and she is relieved when, instead of accepting the blackmail payment she thinks he is after, he tears up her check and the store record of her shoplifting, and promises to help her.