In Deerview, Washington, Jerry Price dies in a suspicious accident shortly after a love triangle among local and Californian students there went sour. His flippant sister Ann Price decides to blame his last flirt, immature pianist Sharon McKay. Ann enlists Jerry's athletic roommate Paul Lear to set up Ann as her apparent killer in a staged climbing accident in the woods. Detective Porter is played and outsmarted repeatedly, for Ann's plan proves twisted and her victims fight back, only leading up to further twists.