Luke Jackson is a cool, gutsy prisoner in a Southern chain gang, who, while refusing to buckle under to authority, keeps escaping and being recaptured. The prisoners admire Luke because, as Dragline explains it, "You're an original, that's what you are!" Nevertheless, the camp staff actively works to crush Luke until he finally breaks.

Hercule Poirot appears on a TV talk show with actor Bryan Martin who is making an action/detective movie with Jane Wilkinson. He also meets impressionist Carlotta Adams. They all go to a party and Jane asks him and Captain Hastings to go and meet her husband, Lord Edgware in regards to a divorce. They do so, to discover that the Lord had already granted her a divorce. Jane is delighted but drops hints that she could have killed the Lord if he didn't grant her the divorce. The next day Lord...