Emily Crane (Kelly McGillis), a Life Magazine photography editor, is fired for refusing to name names in a House Un-American Activities Committee hearing. Undaunted by the McCarthy witch-hunters, she takes a new job as a caretaker for Miss Venable (Jessica Tandy). One day, Emily overhears a suspicious conversation in the house next door and suspects that she's stumbled on a conspiracy to smuggle Nazi war criminals into the United States.