Ten years after being molested in art school by habitual rapist Theodore Gray, who is serving 25 years but eligible for parole, Sarah Reynolds leads a happy life in a gallery and with her handsome husband, lawyer Michael Reynolds, and helps police detective Nick Sousa, who put Grat away, as sketch-artist. Then new cases following Gray's MO occur, and a victim who got away gives a description Sara hesitates to confide to paper: it fits Michael scarily. She turns it in, yet once he's behind bars searches in and is blackmailed to plead Gray's paroling or his crime cahoots will torture Michael to death.
This film concerns a writer of mystery stories who bases his villain on a criminal, played by Malcolm McDowell, who is incarcerated in prison. Escaping prison after his apparent death in a fire, the criminal plans to revenge himself on the writer (Roger Moore) for 'stealing his personality', and proceeds to carry out a set of murders based around the novels. Moore is unable to convince the authorities of the true murderer and, alerted by an avid fan (Nancy Allen) who has psychic powers, seeks to trap McDowell into giving himself away.