Richard Brooks writes and directs this story of a callous murder, based on the bestselling classic by Truman Capote. In Kansas, a prosperous and respected farmer is brutally slaughtered along with his wife and two teenage children by the mindless ex-con drifters Perry Smith (Robert Blake) and Dick Hickock (Scott Wilson). The story penetrates the inner workings of the criminals' minds as it follows their purposeless meandering through Mexico and the United States in evasion of the law and finally to the dramatic end of their journey.