Vera Blake, an eighteen-year-old orphan finishing her studies at an American private school, received an unexpected visitor. He introduced himself as a lawyer and announced that her rich uncle had died in England (whose existence she had heard about, but whom she had never seen) and left her as the sole heir to his entire fortune, including the ancient castle and its surrounding lands. True, the will contained a strange condition: before it comes into legal force, Vera must live in this house for at least three months. Rejoicing at her newfound freedom and the opportunity to start a new, adult life, Vera comes to the inherited property. However, immediately upon her arrival, frightening and inexplicable phenomena begin to occur in the castle...