Fresh off the case of the Dixie Damsel, Jessica takes a trip with Lee Goddard, an old army friend of Frank's, to his ranch. However, the beautiful vistas and wide open spaces are quickly eclipsed by more intrigue when psychic Franchesco predicts some rather unsettling things for Lee's daughter-in-law, who subsequently becomes the victim of kidnapping and murder in quick succession.
This episode includes examples of the following tropes:
- Awful Wedded Life: It becomes increasingly clear that Del and Jill should've never married. Lee points out Del had a rather promising career before he hooked up with Jill, and Jill feels everyone in Del's family (Del included) are laughing at her behind her back. Both were trying to manipulate the other into divorcing; Del wanted Franchesco to warn Jill her marriage was "evil" while Jill conspired with Franchesco to fake her death and steal the ransom money.
- Dirty Coward: Del didn't have the guts to simply tell Jill he wanted a divorce so he hired Franchesco to try and scare Jill into wanting to leave. Maybe if he'd been more upfront Jill wouldn't have gotten the idea to conspire with Franchesco to kill Greta and use her body to fake Jill's death.
- Double Meaning: When Jessica and Lee have their final conversation, it's pretty clear they're using a discussion about food to talk about the possibility of their getting together in the future.
- Identification by Dental Records: Jill's body had burned so badly in the car wreck that the police identified her by her jewelry, and then confirmed it by her dental records. In fact, Jill switched her records with Greta's and put her jewelry on the body before setting the fire.
- I Have Your Wife: Some time after Jill takes the car, an anonymous phone call tells the family that she's being held hostage and they'll release her in exchange for a million dollars.
- Kill It with Fire: Franchesco predicts Jill's death in a fire during the party.
- Not Quite Saved Enough: Jill dies in a car crash (caused by sabotage) immediately after her father-in-law and husband have paid the ransom to set her free. Lee and his son both lament the irony.
- Phony Psychic: Nothing ever proves that Franchesco has genuine psychic powers, and he outright admits to being fed things to say when asked to "perform" at parties. Jessica also reasons he and Jill were in cahoots because of the phenomenal odds against his prediction about Jill choking coming true otherwise.
- Sequel Episode: This episode picks up after the end of "The Last Flight of the Dixie Damsel".
- Ship Tease: Lee proposes to Jessica partway through the episode. She turns him down, not having considered remarriage since Frank died, but they agree to leave the possibility open just in case.
- Shout-Out: This episode has a housekeeper character named Greta Olsen.
- Vehicular Sabotage: Lee initially thinks Jill died simply because of a tragic accident, but the police officer investigating the scene tells him that someone had cut the car's brakes.
