Reverend Dwight Moore is at death’s door when he is transferred from his local hospital to Memorial Hospital in Chapel Hill. With all the expertise and technology of modern medicine at their disposal, doctors are still unable to find of the cause of Moore’s symptoms, which include stomach pain, numbness and hallucinations. His devoted wife Blanche remains by his side throughout his puzzling illness. She tries to comfort him by bringing his favourite banana pudding from home.

When Moore’s vital functions begin to shut down, a visiting specialist examines him and notices white striation lines on his fingernails, an indication of arsenic poisoning. Tests reveal that Moore has ingested more arsenic than any living person on record. Police investigators question him about his wife and discover that Blanche Moore’s two previous husbands both met untimely deaths. Their bodies are exhumed and found to contain high levels of arsenic, and Blanche Moore is convicted of murder and sentenced to death.