A young woman welcomes a stranger into her home who pretends to have an accident. After a fleeting romance, the two marry and she immediately inherits a fortune due to the death of her uncle.
A man embezzles some money in order to pay his debts and the daughter of his boss, who is in love with his son, asks a rich former suitor of hers for help.
Murders, with victims dying from spines broken by brute strength, erupt in the city and the killers, when encountered, walk away unharmed by police bullets which strike them.
While her new husband is away looking for work, the wife loses the child she was expecting and uses another woman's baby as a substitute so she won't have to upset her spouse when he returns.
After moving to a new town, troublemaking teen Jim Stark is supposed to have a clean slate, although being the new kid in town brings its own problems.