Fed up with the pressures of her acting career, the famous Myra Marlowe leases a house in New England and settles down to write her autobiography. But dealing with her nosy, omnipresent neighbors is a difficult. In an attempt to shoo them away, Myra invents a mad, homicidal sister—who is kept locked in an upstairs room, but who occasionally escapes long enough to scare off uninvited visitors. The ruse works well, at first, but complications result when the local handyman develops an affection for "Sister Sadie", and some of the more officious ladies decide it is their Christian duty to save the poor demented Sadie's soul. In desperation Myra announces that her imaginary sibling has suddenly gone off to Boston—which brings on the sheriff and the suspicion of murder!