When Miles Conrad makes increasingly ludicrous and unsuccessful attempts to murder his wife Daisy, including trying to push her into the crater of the volcano Soufriere on the voodoo-haunted island of St. Toulouse, his frustration, humiliation, and guilt begin to drive him slowly insane. When Daisy falls into the crater accidently, he is arrested for the crime he tried but failed to commit. Released, he finds he has lost everything -- his wife, his lover, his job, and most of his sanity. Incredibly, he begins thinking he can solve his problems by committing another murder.