In Capital City, Ann Walton and Jim Owens have their lives on track and decide to get officially engaged. Then, on her way home from her office job at a mill Ann is followed by a man--with a scar on his neck, wearing a brown leather jacket--who rapes her. Among the health-related issues associated with the attack is Ann's visible emotional shock, which remains after the more physical aspects heal and she tries to get on with her life. Ann still feels the emotional shock and stigma associated with the incident believing that everything about her is a walking billboard: "THE RAPE VICTIM," and every little thing around her steers her mind back to the attack. Unable to cope, unwilling to marry--Jim or anyone--she escapes to Los Angeles. En route, she encounters Tom and Madge Harrison, who own an orange grove, and Reverend Bruce "Doc" Ferguson. All three tries to help this stranger whom they can see is a frightened young woman. Ann does not tell them her real name or about the rape. The question becomes whether Doc's and the Harrisons' compassion can help Ann deal directly with the rape and thus capture of her attacker, and/or come to emotional terms with the rape and be able to move on with her life.
—Huggo