At the stroke of 7:00 p.m., he stabs a stranger on the streets with an icepick; escaping, he then reports to Dr. Janz for his daily psychiatric session.

The man is revealed to be Charles Campbell, who has been paroled following a two-year prison term for rape on condition that he undergo daily psychiatric treatment.

While for the most part maintaining a calm demeanour, he always approaches the analyst's couch with trepidation and occasionally becomes aggressive and shows signs of inner turmoil during sessions.

On a walk together one night, Charles tells Terry, who is not privy to patient histories, that he is seeing Dr. Janz as a condition of parole following a manslaughter conviction in the death of his dear sister, Ruthie, and that he is tormented with guilt for being at the wheel in the car accident that claimed her life.

After stabbing the doctor in a crowded passageway at a football stadium, Charles goes to Janz's office to meet Terry.

While she is trying to repel him, they are interrupted by a phone call notifying Terry that her uncle, following a stabbing, is alive but unconscious in a hospital.

Before the deranged killer can complete his third murder, however, he is apprehended by the police in the presence of Terry, who sees Charles for the deeply disturbed man he truly is.