Blanche and her boyfriend, George Lumley, begin making inquiries around their area about the Shoebridges, despite no one knowing where Edward is, or if he is alive.

Meanwhile, Edward Shoebridge, alive and under the pseudonym of "the Trader", has been organising small kidnappings around the area, but is planning a larger score, the Archbishop of Canterbury, whom he will hold for a large ransom.

The novel was adapted by writer Ernest Lehman into the film Family Plot, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, becoming his fifty-third and final motion picture.

The film featured Barbara Harris and Bruce Dern as Blanche Tyler and George Lumley, with Karen Black as Francine and William Devane as Edward Shoebridge/Arthur Adamson.

Other small changes include the switching of setting from England to Northern California, and the fact that in the book, Blanche actually had psychic abilities, while in the film, she fakes them for financial gain.