When the Sacramento Police Department receives a missing persons report from a concerned social worker, they send Detective John Cabrera to the boarding house where the individual was last seen. The elderly landlady, Dorothea Puente, is friendly and cooperative, but when Cabrera discovers human remains in the backyard, Puente falls under suspicion of murder. Now, with police getting closer to unearthing the rest of the bodies, the old lady gives Cabrera the slip and goes on the run.