A young singer appearing with Tony in Las Vegas has been kidnapped by sinister thugs who plan to collect ransom—and then dump their captive in Lake Mead. 

Blake's life is placed in jeopardy when he seeks the reasons behind a hospitalized young boy's fright and retreat into silence. By making a plant grow before a distrusting woman's eyes, Blake hopes she will provide a clue to the event that traumatized a young man in a backwoods town full of close-mouthed people. While performing his magic act in a hospital, Blake encounters Ian Keefer, a 17-year-old who goes into hysterics when he sees fire in the act. Probing the core of Ian's dilemma takes Blake to Elm Ridge, a southern backwoods town where the people, including Sheriff Platt and Mrs. Thatcher, are fearful, silent and sometimes violent.