Vincent Bruce, a young Korean War veteran, returns to his Maryland hometown and begins working as an occupational therapist at a nearby elite sanitarium for the wealthy. There he meets the beautiful and seductive Lilith Arthur, who lives in a secret world of her own creation. He soon falls in love with her, which is against sanitarium policy and they have a secret affair. But, he soon discovers that she is also having a lesbian affair with Yvonne Meaghan, another patient, and that their pursuit of love is often dangerous. While at a medieval fair, there are a brief few moments of Lilith kissing and whispering into the ear of a young boy who has given her a chip of ice. Vincent just watches from a distance, not stopping her or even saying anything to her. He is so in "lust" with Lilith that he overlooks this behavior as he does with the lesbian affair. Stephen Evshevsky, yet another patient who is in love with Lilith, commits suicide after he gives her a handmade gift and Vincent returns it knowing Stephen will assume Lilith has rejected him. His death destroys Lilith, severing her last connection with reality, and she retreats into complete madness. The experience also shatters Vincent, and he decides to quit his job. But, instead of simply leaving the hospital, he asks a doctor for psychiatric help.