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Daphne, Hilda and Florence have been friends since they were at school together. Daphne has always had trouble making up her mind and is easily swayed. But when she breaks off her engagement to Basil because of a comment someone makes about his nose, Hilda begs Florence to intervene.
A party of four young people and three adults is staying at a holiday cottage by the sea. One of them, Julia Martin, lost her son, Chris, after a mining scandal in Peru, but she has never stopped hoping he will return. When the young people announce they are going ghost-hunting at nearby Malcolm's Castle, the deserted house of a reputed spiritualist, Mrs Martin insists on going with them, hoping to make contact with her son.