Kate has a best friend from the time she is nine: a wild next-door neighbor, Tommy. The friendship continues into high school until Tommy’s wildness turns into madness. Kate finds herself expecting a baby, the father is a married minister. Kate is sent to a home for unwed mothers but shocks everyone when she decides to keep her child. When she returns home, Tommy makes a last violent attempt to possess her and she discovers the strength of her own character, and her parents rediscover the child they thought they had lost.