Julia Ross is a young woman alone in the world and is in search of a job. She is hired by an elderly woman named Mrs. Hughes to act as her live-in personal secretary. One of Mrs. Hughes' stipulations is that whomever she hire treat this job as one of a long term nature, meaning no current boyfriends or marriage on the horizon. The closest person to Julia was Dennis Bruce, who lived at the same boarding house and who was somewhat sweet on Julia but left to get married to another woman. As such, Julia is grateful for her new job. When Julia awakens after her first night at the Hughes home, she learns she has been asleep for two days. She is no longer in the urban London home she knows as Mrs. Hughes' home, but rather a sprawling and isolated estate by the sea in Cornwall. All evidence of her being Julia Ross has disappeared. And everyone in the house, including Mrs. Hughes, Mrs. Hughes' son Ralph, and all the household servants, try to convince her that she is Marion Hughes, Ralph's wife who is recovering from a nervous breakdown. Julia is certain of who she is, and suspects the Hugheses are going to kill her for whatever reason. Julia is alone with no one to support her claim and thus help her as the Hugheses have made her seem crazy to whomever she has spoken. However, initially unknown to the Hugheses, Dennis Bruce, who ended up not getting married, returned to the rooming house just before Julia's departure and made a date with her. Since she didn't keep the date, he goes looking for her.
—Huggo