A dangerous combination of radiation and insecticide causes the unfortunate Scott Carey to shrink, slowly but surely, until he is only a few inches tall. His home becomes a wilderness where he must survive everything from spiders living in the cellar to his beloved cat.

A middle-aged ex-serviceman who plans to re-enlist is shocked to learn that not only did he fail his medical exam, his wife has enlisted - and is really making the grade in the Air Force. Unhappy to be a "house husband," he flies to Hawaii to be near her - and also to hatch a scheme to get her discharged.

After a wild night, wealthy Michael Reston's adulterous wife Charleen comes home with her dress in rags; murder results. Top New York defense lawyer J.G. Blane, whose own marriage exists in name only, arrives in Desert View, Nevada to find the townsfolk and politically powerful Sheriff Hoak distinctly hostile to the Restons. In due course, Blane discovers he's been "taken for a ride," and that quiet desert communities can be deadly.

A Prohibition-era nightclub crooner has his career is cut short when his throat is slashed by a mob boss.