Author Mort Rainey catches his wife Amy having an affair with another man, Ted, and threatens both of them with an empty revolver. Depressed and suffering from writer's block, Mort delays finalizing the divorce and retreats to his cabin at Tashmore Lake in upstate New York. A drawling Mississippian calling himself John Shooter arrives at the cabin and accuses Mort of plagiarism his short story "Sowing Season". Upon reading Shooter's manuscript, Mort discovers it is virtually identical to his own story, "Secret Window", except for the ending.