Young David Masters drowns his mother's cat Sheba in its milk, claiming she loves it more than he, one of many such Shebas he has killed. As a grown man, he returns home with his wife Janie and their newborn child. His mother swears vengeance on him, promising to toy with him as Sheba would have played with a mouse. Soon after, his mother's latest Sheba suffocates the baby under a pillow. Janie has a nervous breakdown. And then his mother brings in a French nurse to seduce David away from Janie.