Charles Bigger is small of stature and in bad health, but his youthful career as a hit man was phenomenally successful. He has spent recent years living quietly in Arizona, where the climate is good for his tuberculosis. Summoned back to New York by a mob boss known simply as The Man, Bigger engages to kill Jake Winroy, an ex-bookmaker planning to turn informant against The Man's crimeestablishment. Traveling under an alias to the small town of Peardale, Bigger is able to move into his intended victim's house as a lodger. Matters become complicated when he enters simultaneous relationships with Winroy's wife Fay and a mistreated housemaid named Ruth.