Whilst out on a rowboat with his wife Louise (Luana Anders), John has a heart attack and dies. She hides his death telling the family he left on an urgent business trip because she can only hope to inherit part of his family fortune if he's still alive. The Halorans are still grieving over the death of the youngest daughter, Kathleen, who drowned in a pond when she was a young child. The family, including John's brothers Billy (Bart Patton) and Richard (William Campbell), hold an annual ceremony of remembrance on the anniversary of her death. But this year someone is wielding an ax...intent on murder.