A former prison chaplain and his accomplice blackmail a happy family. The blackmailers know that the oldest daughter is adopted and comes from a tragic background; her biological father killed her mother and then himself. The adoring couple love raising their daughters in the idyllic environment of the picturesque and peaceful Appalachian mountains. The husband, a forest ranger, wants to shield his daughter from taunts and gossip should the history of her birth parents become public knowledge. The smarmy blackmailer keeps coming back for more, so the husband mulls his options along with the consequences. The plot thickens when one of the blackmailers is found murdered deep in the piney woods.
—David Stevens / Hans Delbruck