Nora, a young woman who has reliably delivered medicine daily, has been missing for a week, worrying her grandmother. The elderly woman visits Nora's home, the Blackwood residence, and demands to see her parents, Caleb and Evelyn. Their other daughter, Grace, dismisses the concern, claiming Nora ran off with a drifter and that her parents are too busy with another case to care. The grandmother refuses to believe this and insists on filing a police report, but the household staff refuses without Mr. Blackwood's order. Vowing to find Nora herself, the grandmother declares she will go to the sheriff's office tomorrow, directly defying the family's indifference.