Kitten with a Whip

San Diego based David Stratton is seeking his party's nomination as state senator. His political life has taken a toll on his marriage, his wife Ginny who has left him - somewhat temporarily - with their infant daughter Kathy. They still love each other but she isn't sure she can handle being the wife of a senator, which in and of itself may be in jeopardy if she isn't at his side at pre-election functions. David awakens one morning to find a young woman asleep in Kathy's room, the woman who apparently had been there at least all night. She is seventeen year old runaway Jody Dvorak - also calling herself Jody Drew - who broke into the house since there was evidence the homeowners were away on vacation. As David learns she has an abusive home life, he wants to help her with her immediate goal of getting to Los Angeles to stay with a sympathetic aunt. He purchases her new clothes and believes he has placed her on a bus with some extra pocket money. But as he returns home later that evening, he finds that Jody has returned and has no intention of leaving... yet. By that time, David has learned from television news that she really is an escapee of juvenile detention, which she achieved by critically stabbing one of the facility's matrons. David can't telephone the police as Jody threatens to figuratively yell rape, which would ruin his political career. As Jody calls in three criminal friends - the violent Buck, the menacingly controlled Ron, and the subservient Midge - for support, David, while being held captive by them in his own home, further learns that their plan is ultimately for him to assist them in crossing the border into Mexico to escape capture. David has to figure out how to get rid of the four fugitives, while saving his political career and his marriage.