A young psychiatrist finds himself drawn to a beautiful young mental patient.

Vincent Bruce, a young Korean War veteran, returns to his Maryland hometown and begins working as an occupational therapist at a nearby mental institution for the wealthy. There he meets the beautiful Lilith Arthur, who lives in a secret world of her own creation, and he falls in love with her. They have an affair, but he soon discovers that she is also having a lesbian affair with Mrs. Meaghan, another patient, and that her pursuit of love is limitless and often dangerous. Stephen Evshevsky, another inmate who is in love with Lilith, commits suicide when she rejects him. His death destroys Lilith, severing her last connection with reality, and she retreats into complete madness. The experience also shatters Vincent, and he decides to quit the job; instead of leaving the hospital, however, he asks a doctor for help.