In advance of a presidential visit to the small town of Suddenly, California, a trio of FBI agents enters the Benson family's home to assess potential security risks. Once inside, leader John Baron (Frank Sinatra) reveals himself as a psychopathic assassin, and he kidnaps the family in order to use their house as his vantage point in his plot to kill the president. Sheriff Tod Shaw (Sterling Hayden) matches wits with the assassin and his gang in an attempt to save the day.. "A taut melodrama that... shapes up as one of the slickest recent items in the minor movie league... we have several people to thank - particularly Richard Sale for a good script, which tells a straight story credibly, Mr. Allen for direction that makes both excitement and sense, Mr. Bassler for a production that gets the feel of a small town and the cast ... Mr. Sinatra deserves a special chunk of praise...In SUDDENLY he [is] a melodramatic tour de force." - Bosley Crowther, The New York Times