No Man of Her Own

In a New York City apartment building, pregnant Helen Ferguson is knocking repeatedly at her ex-boyfriend's door. Steve Morley is inside with his new girlfriend, Irma, and won't open the door. Trying not to attract attention, Helen pleads for Steve's help. At last he slides an envelope under the door. It contains train tickets to San Francisco, which is Helen's hometown, and some money. Obviously he doesn't intend to do the right thing and marry Helen. In her haste to get away, she loses the money. Irma warns Steve that he had better not try to get rid of her that way. The train is crowded and Helen is forced to sit on her suitcase. A well-dressed young woman sees her and nudges her husband to give Helen his seat. She gratefully accepts and the two strike up a conversation. Her new friend is Patrice Harkness, who is also pregnant. She and her husband Hugh are traveling to the midwest to live with his family. Patrice is nervous about meeting them for the first time. She wouldn't even let Hugh send them a picture so they have no idea what she looks like. Patrice also mentions that she has no family left. Helen makes up a story about being widowed, which earns her Patrice's sympathy. When the dining car opens, Patrice and Hugh invite Helen to be their guest at dinner, sensing that she has very little money. In fact, all she has left is thirty-seven cents. Later, Patrice and Helen are in the washroom preparing for bed. Patrice shows Helen her wedding ring, which has their names engraved on the inside. Since she has cold cream on her hands, she gives Helen the ring to hold. Helen slips it onto her own finger. Just then the train gives a lurch and leaves the tracks. The women tumble to the floor and the last thing Helen hears is Patrice screaming for Hugh. Some time later, Helen half-regains consciousness in a hospital. The accident has caused her to go into labor and a c-section must be performed. She is delivered of a healthy son. When she wakes up, the first thing she notices are the beautiful flowers by her bedside and wonders who sent them. The nurse comes in and calls her Mrs. Harkness. Helen is still wearing Patrice's ring and realizes that they think she is Patrice. She tries to protest but is too weak. Her condition improves and the doctor is pleased. But he must break the news to her that her husband did not survive. Again Helen protests that there has been a mistake, she has to make them understand. But the doctor gives her a sedative, assuming that she is in denial about her husband's death. Wanting to ask about Patrice, Helen tells the nurse that there was another woman with her in the washroom. The nurse says they have no identification for her, only a worn purse with thirty-seven cents inside. She asks Helen if she had only met the woman on the train and Helen says yes. Unfortunately, the woman and her baby died in the accident. Helen is too frightened to tell the truth. A letter arrives from Hugh's mother, along with some beautiful baby clothes and more flowers. Mrs. Harkness writes that she is so looking forward to finally meeting Patrice. Due to ill health, she cannot come to the hospital. When Patrice is strong enough to travel, she will be put on the train and her in-laws will meet her at the other end. Wanting to provide for her son, Helen assumes Patrice's identity. Her in-laws welcome her warmly and she settles into the family. But it is not easy. Hugh's brother Bill shows up. Helen didn't know he had a brother and he reminds her that they met at the hospital. She explains that she was not fully conscious and that's why she doesn't remember him. Mrs. Harkness, who has a heart condition, brings Helen a box of Hugh's pictures. But they mean nothing to Helen because she is not Patrice. Life at the Harkness mansion is much easier than the life Helen knew in New York. She doesn't have to work and it is evident that the family means to provide for her and the child, whom Helen has named Hugh Jr. But she cannot avoid slips of the tongue, including not recognizing Hugh's favorite song, causing Bill to grow suspicious. Christmas is coming up and Bill asks Helen to meet him downtown to choose a gift for his father. They decide to get him a fountain pen and Bill suggests that Helen sign her name to see how it writes. She starts to write Helen Ferguson, then crosses it out and writes Patrice Harkness. That night, Bill decides to tell his father of his suspicions. But before he can do so, his mother remarks how fond she has grown of Patrice. Both parents dote on their grandson. Realizing this, Bill decides to let the matter drop. Then Helen receives a letter, unsigned, with a message asking what she is doing there. She is terrified that someone has found her out. Bill asks her to go with him to the Country Club dance and his mother urges her to accept. It is time she got on with her life and started seeing people again. Helen reluctantly agrees to go, even after another letter arrives. At the dance, Helen is horrified to see her former boyfriend and the father of her child, Steve Morley. He introduces himself to Bill and asks to dance with Helen. After a few minutes of dancing, he steers her outside. When the train accident occurred, he went to identify Helen's body. But the dead woman that bore her name tag was not her. Steve made inquiries and figured out what happened. Now he wants money for his silence. Once he has it, he will leave and she'll never see him again. Helen realizes she will have to pay him but she has no money of her own. After a hint at the dinner table, she is given her own checking account. She and Steve meet at the train station. He takes her check but does not leave as she expected. He puts it in an envelope addressed to Mr. Harkness, along with the rent receipts from when he and Helen lived together back in New York. Unless she goes along with the next part of his plan, he will mail the envelope. His plan is for them to get married, giving him access to any money the Harkness parents leave to Patrice. He knows Mrs. Harkness is very ill and figures the old man will not long survive her. Helen has no choice but to agree. Steve laughingly reminds her that at one time she was desperate to marry him. Steve and Helen drive through snowy weather to the justice of the peace in the next town. Helen breaks down and declares she cannot go through with it, so Steve places a call to the Harkness home. Mrs. Harkness, confined to her bedroom, answers the phone and overhears Helen pleading with Steve. The connection is broken but Bill manages to have the call traced. He sets out to rescue Helen but runs his car off the icy road. Meanwhile, Helen marries Steve. Helen decides her only hope of escape is to kill Steve. When he drops her off, she take a gun from a drawer in the Harkness home. Bill follows her to the downtown building where Steve has taken a room. When Helen enters the room, she sees Steve sprawled on the bed. She tells him to wake up but he doesn't move. She fires the gun but realizes he is already dead. Someone else has shot him. Bill pounds on the door, demanding to be let in. Helen tries to keep him out but he forces his way inside. Assuming that Helen has shot and killed Steve, he takes the gun and asks if there is anything to link the two. He finds the marriage license but the check has disappeared. Helen tries to explain but Bill doesn't believe that she didn't kill Steve. Now they must get rid of his body so there will be no link to the Harkness family. He drags Steve to his car and puts him in the back seat. They drive out of town to a bridge over a railroad. Bill knows that a train will be coming along shortly. He rolls Steve's body off the bridge and it lands in an open car. The train is going out of town and hopefully the body won't be discovered for a while. Afterwards, they sit in the car and Helen tells Bill everything. He told her he had known for a long time that she was not Patrice but didn't want to upset his mother by outing her. When they return home, the doctor is there and Mrs. Harkness is dying. Helen is momentarily left alone with her and confesses how much she loves Mrs. Harkness. That much is true. Somehow she senses that Mrs. Harkness knows she is not Patrice but it doesn't matter now. Mrs. Harkness dies and Helen and Bill decide to marry. Unfortunately, Steve's body is discovered and traced back to the Harkness family. The police arrive to question Bill and Helen on the day of the funeral. Bill makes up a story about how Steve was a gambling acquaintance of Hugh's from his college days. He showed up to get money from Patrice to cover the debts Hugh had owed. Beyond that, Bill and Helen know nothing about him or how he died. The police seemingly accept this story but warn them that they may be questioned again. Bill and Helen -- who has decided to remain Patrice -- marry but they are not happy. Each of them thinks the other killed Steve. In a voice over, Patrice says that one day she will leave Bill or he will leave her. Then they get a phone call that the police are on their way over. Before they can decide what to say, the housekeeper brings them a letter from Mrs. Harkness. Her instructions were to give it to them if the police came. Inside is a written confession from Mrs. Harkness, stating that she killed Steve Morley because he was threatening her daughter-in-law. Bill and Patrice are horrified and realize instantly that she has done this to protect them. Patrice says she will gladly confess so there will be no stigma attached to the only mother she ever knew. Bill tears up the letter and says he will confess. Then the police arrive. They have the check Patrice wrote. Irma, Steve's girlfriend, had killed him, taken the check, and tried to cash it. Bill and Patrice realize they are free and can be happy now since neither is a murderer.