Frank and Mildred Partridge are a married couple who have lived a mediocre life. As the story opens, Frank has just gotten a job after being out of work, but he is upset, for in another few years he will be fifty--too young for an old age pension and too old to get another job. Further, they do not even own their own home. Frank says they both would be worth more dead. The more they consider the idea, the more Frank is in favor of it--all that needs to be done is Mildred disappear for seven years. The courts will declare her legally dead, and they will have more than enough money to last them the rest of their lives. They execute the plan and Mildred leaves their Ventura home to hide in Los Angeles. Her "disappearance" is soon reported. After the police, comes Kettle, an insurance investigator. Because of the circumstances, Kettle is certain that Mildred has been murdered and states he will prove it by producing Mildred's body. Further, Kettle promises he will keep searching the entire seven years for the body. Secretly, Frank sees Mildred and convinces her she should go to San Francisco. When Frank goes to join her at Christmas, Kettle again is shadowing him, and continues to do so for the next six years. By this time, Frank is beginning to crack. Time goes on, and two days before Frank is due to go to court to have Mildred declared legally dead, Mildred herself returns. It is a new Mildred--smart, sophisticated and well -dressed, for she has made a new life and a new love for herself, as she tells Frank, and now wants a divorce. Frank is horrified, then enraged, for he as spent seven years waiting for this very moment. What will Frank do now?
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