Patty escapes, but after a chase she is cornered by UNITE on a bridge and falls from the bridge to her death. She desperately tries to avoid UNITE and the mark but is eventually captured. Patty is conflicted and refuses to trust Christ yet also refuses to take the mark. The next morning, Patty wakes to find that her husband and millions of others have suddenly disappeared. Meanwhile, her husband, who has been attending another church, has accepted Jesus. She refuses to believe the warnings of her friends and family that she will go through the Great Tribulation if she does not put her faith in Christ.

However, her pastor is shown to be an unbeliever. Patty considers herself a Christian because she occasionally reads her Bible and goes to church regularly. One considers Jesus Christ her savior while the other, Diane, is earthly minded. The story begins with three friends who will have different destinies: Patty and her two friends who have different approaches to Christianity. Several flashbacks occur to times in Patty's life before the rapture. The United Nations sets up an emergency government system called the United Nations Imperium of Total Emergency (UNITE) and declares anyone who does not receive the Mark of the Beast identifying them with UNITE will be arrested. Patty finds that her husband has also disappeared. The radio announcer suggests this may be the Rapture of the Church spoken of in the Bible. In medias res, Patty Meyers wakes up to a radio broadcast announcing the disappearance of millions around the world. It was 'one of the first films to take on Fundamentalist apocalyptic narratives within a fictional motif.' : 92 Plot It earned roughly $4.2 million during its first decade of release, the majority of which came from audience donations. The film was produced in 1972 for a budget of $68,000. : 69 Doughten had worked with Good News Productions on The Blob in 1958, and had produced other films in Iowa through his production company Heartland Productions. : 577-578 Thompson had been working in radio. Thompson, two Iowa-based filmmakers, formed Mark IV Pictures in 1972 to produce A Thief in the Night.

I will come like a thief in the night