Jill, a lonely, distraught housewife with four unruly children, paces on her dining room table with a belt around her neck, contemplating a desperate end to her wretchedness. Her husband, Bill, focused on his identity as breadwinner and an affair with a lusty co-worker, is as oblivious to Jill's growing terror that she will do something destructive as he is to the panic at his unraveling company.

Meanwhile, dogs bark and howl through the night, as one persistent mutt continually stalks the family's yard. When Jill's psyche finally breaks, she takes on a vicious new canine persona.