Plot summary

On a dark and stormy night in the Welsh mountains, two carloads of people in quick succession encounter trouble on the seemingly washed out roads and decide to take refuge in an old, dark house for the evening until the storm subsides rather than risk driving on the road if their car is even still operational. The first car contains married Philip and Margaret Waverton and their friend, war veteran Roger Penderel who has been coasting through life in not having found a calling. The second car contains widowed Sir William Porterhouse, whose focus on earning money is more to show up people who looked down on him and more importantly his now deceased wife, and his current casual girlfriend, chorus girl Gladys Perkins, who uses the stage name Gladys Duquesne to appear higher class. The house is inhabited by elderly siblings Rebecca Femm, the stern owner who doesn't seem to appreciate these strangers intruding on their existence, and milquetoast Horace Femm, and their housekeeper, mute Morgan who almost seems beast-like in his appearance and demeanor, especially if he's had drink. The one inhabitant the stranded travelers may not meet is the Femm patriarch, bedridden centenarian Sir Roderick Femm. The travelers find that staying in the house has its own mortal dangers, not only open ones like the possibility of the landslides from the rain wiping it out like it has the roads or the actions of beastly Morgan, but also hidden ones such as what Horace seems so afraid of.—Huggo