Sleeping With the Enemy PILF-1365 ( 0153 )

Laura Burney has a seemingly idyllic life and a happy marriage to Martin, a successful Boston investment counselor, and they live in a luxurious home overlooking the sea of Cape Cod. Beneath Martin's charming, handsome exterior, however, is an obsessive and controlling person who has physically, emotionally, and sexually abused Laura throughout their nearly four-year marriage. Then, in a recurring pattern, he apologetically showers her with flowers and gifts.

Martin accepts an invitation from their neighbor, a doctor, for an evening sail, despite knowing that Laura fears water and cannot swim. As a severe storm unexpectedly breaks, Martin and the doctor struggle to control the vessel, while Laura is swept overboard. After an extensive Coast Guard search, Laura's body is never recovered, and she is presumed dead from drowning, leaving Martin inconsolable.

Laura is revealed to actually be alive. After secretly learning to swim, she planned to fake her own death to escape Martin's abuse. During the storm, she jumped overboard, swam ashore, and returned home. She cut her hair, donned a wig, flushed her wedding ring down the toilet, and took her stashed belongings and money and headed to a nearby bus station.

Laura moves to Cedar Falls, Iowa. Previously, she had told Martin that her blind, stroke-impaired mother, Chloe, had died, but Laura had secretly moved Chloe to an Iowa nursing home. Laura rents a house, finds a job, and settles into a new life as "Sara Waters". Her neighbor, Ben Woodward, a young drama teacher at a local college, is attracted to Laura, though he suspects she has a checkered past. They have an agreeable date, but when a kiss turns more physical, Laura resists and demands that Ben leave. She later admits to him that she escaped an abusive marriage.

Martin learns that Laura had taken swim lessons, leading him to believe she did not drown and is alive. This is confirmed when he finds Laura's wedding ring in the toilet, which had not properly flushed as she had believed. Martin travels to Chloe's nursing home, masquerading as a detective, and learns that Chloe's "nephew" has just visited. Laura, disguised as a man, is also at the nursing home and barely misses encountering Martin. Martin discovers Laura's whereabouts and learns about Ben. He trails the couple to Laura's new house and breaks in while she and Ben are outside. He also stalks them during their date at a local carnival. When Laura returns home, she notices the small clues Martin deliberately left inside the house: the hand towels perfectly aligned and the contents of the kitchen cabinets lined up to Martin's exacting standards.

Martin then confronts Laura as Ben smashes the door down and attempts to subdue Martin, who knocks him unconscious. As Martin aims his gun at Ben, Laura distracts him by slamming her knee into his groin. She grabs Martin's gun and holds him at gunpoint. As Laura calls the police, Martin expects her to tell the police to protect her from him, as she had done in the past, but Laura shocks Martin by informing the police she has killed an intruder and then shoots Martin three times in the chest. A wounded Martin seizes Laura by the hair and grabs the gun, aiming it at her in a desperate attempt to kill her, but the gun clicks empty. Martin then dies from his wounds, while Laura and Ben embrace and wait for the police.