Influenced by actual events back in the 1950s, Joseph Hayes wrote a critically praised debut novel, adapted it into a Tony Award-winning Broadway hit (with Paul Newman) and saw it emerge in 1955 as a high caliber Hollywood movie (starring Frederick March). It tells the story of a trio of escaped bank robbers who take a suburban family and hold them hostage by turning their tranquil, secluded home into a secret hideout from the law.