The Love Hunger

Beneath the steeple's shadow, minister Hamilton Gregory extols domestic virtue to revival tent congregants, only to confront divine irony when waifish Fran materializes on his porch – a spectral reminder of abandoned flesh. As this cipher-child infiltrates his sterile household, she discovers Mrs. Gregory withering in conjugal neglect while secretary Grace Noir coils around the pulpit with serpentine ambition. Fran's explosive confession of bastardy ignites psychological warfare: she demands Grace's banishment, provoking Noir's retaliation through private investigator Clinton's excavation of secrets. The plot detonates when Fran's circus lineage surfaces amid sawdust and roaring beasts – disguised as lion tamer, she dances with mortality before the cages. Gregory's epiphany strikes mid-roar: blood outweighs lust, duty eclipses hypocrisy. His rejection of Grace becomes sacramental; Fran's union with the school superintendent stitches fractured morality into uneasy resolution.