The film opens with a narrated disclaimer over footage of an opening coffin. The narrator explains that the film's climax is so terrifying that it may kill the viewer, and reassures the audience that if they die of fright while watching the film, they will receive a free burial service, and it closes on the casket which has a card inside reading "Reserved for You."[1]
Newlyweds Jenni (Peggy Webber) and Eric (John Hudson) move into Eric's palatial country home. Jenni is Eric's second wife; his first wife Marion died when she accidentally slipped and hit her head on the edge of a decorative pond on the estate. At the home they meet Eric's friends, the Reverend Snow (Russ Conway) and his wife (Toni Johnson), as well as Mickey (Alex Nicol), the developmentally disabled gardener. Eric privately mentions to the Snows that Jenni spent time in an asylum following the sudden death of both her parents, and Mrs. Snow reveals that Jenni is very wealthy.
Jenni is disturbed both by Mickey's belief that Marion's ghost wanders the estate and by Marion's self-portrait inside the house, which Jenni believes resembles her mother. When she begins to hear unexplained screaming noises and see skulls around her house, she believes that Marion is haunting her. Though Eric speculates to Jenni that Mickey, who was a childhood friend of Marion and thus dislikes Jenni, may be behind the trickery, Jenni worries that she is going insane. Eric then suggests to remove Marion's self-portrait from the home. Eric and Jenni take the painting outside and burn it. While they clean up the remains of the painting, a skull emerges from the ashes. While Jenni panics at the sight of the skull, Eric denies that the skull is there. Jenni faints and Eric withdraws the skull and hides it, revealing that he was responsible for the trickery all along in an effort to get hold of her wealth.
Believing she has finally lost her sanity, Jenni resolves to be committed. She tells Eric that the entire property will be meticulously searched for the skull as a last resort. Before Eric can retrieve it, Mickey secretly steals the skull and brings it to the Reverend, revealing Eric's plans. That night, Eric prepares to murder Jenni and stage it as a suicide. Jenni sees Marion's ghost in Mickey's greenhouse and flees back to the house. When she enters, Eric begins throttling her. The ghost then appears and chases Eric outside and about the property; it finally corners and attacks him, drowning him in the decorative pond.
After Jenni regains consciousness, the Snows arrive. Mrs. Snow comforts a hysterical Jenni and the Reverend discovers Eric's body in the pond. Some undisclosed time later, Jenni and the Snows depart from the house. Reverend Snow declares whether or not Marion's death was an accident will remain a mystery.（这部电影以一个打开棺材的镜头作为开场白。叙述者解释说，电影的高潮是如此可怕，它可能会杀死观众，并向观众保证，如果他们在看电影时死于恐惧，他们将得到一个免费的安葬服务，它关闭了棺材，里面有一张卡片，上面写着“为你保留”。[1]

新婚夫妇詹尼（佩吉·韦伯饰）和埃里克（约翰·哈德森饰）搬进埃里克富丽堂皇的乡间别墅。珍妮是埃里克的第二任妻子；他的第一任妻子玛丽恩不慎滑倒，头撞在庄园装饰性池塘边，不治身亡。在家里，他们遇到了埃里克的朋友，牧师斯诺（罗斯康威）和他的妻子（托尼约翰逊），以及米奇（亚历克斯尼科尔），发展残疾的园丁。埃里克私下告诉斯诺，珍妮在父母猝死后曾在精神病院度过一段时间，斯诺夫人透露珍妮非常富有。

詹妮对米奇认为玛丽安的鬼魂在庄园里游荡以及玛丽安在房子里的自画像感到不安，詹妮认为玛丽安的自画像很像她的母亲。当她开始听到莫名其妙的尖叫声，看到房子周围的骷髅头时，她相信马里恩在缠着她。尽管埃里克向詹尼推测，米奇可能是这场骗局的幕后黑手，米奇是马里恩儿时的朋友，因此不喜欢詹尼，但詹尼担心她快疯了。埃里克建议把马里恩的自画像从家里拿走。埃里克和詹尼把画拿到外面烧了。当他们清理这幅画的残骸时，一个头骨从灰烬中冒了出来。当詹尼看到头骨惊慌失措时，埃里克否认头骨在那里。珍妮晕倒了，埃里克取出头骨藏了起来，透露他一直都在为骗取她的财富负责。

相信她终于失去了理智，詹妮决心要投入。她告诉埃里克，作为最后手段，整个财产都会被仔细搜查，寻找头骨。在埃里克找回头骨之前，米奇偷偷偷走了头骨并把它带给牧师，透露了埃里克的计划。那天晚上，埃里克准备谋杀詹尼，并将其设为自杀。珍妮在米奇的温室里看到了马里恩的鬼魂，就逃回了房子。当她进来时，埃里克开始掐死她。然后鬼魂出现了，在屋外追着埃里克，四处走动；它终于转过身来攻击他，把他淹死在装饰性的池塘里。

珍妮恢复知觉后，雪就来了。斯诺夫人安慰歇斯底里的珍妮，牧师在池塘里发现了埃里克的尸体。一段不为人知的时间后，珍妮和斯诺离开了房子。斯诺牧师宣布，马里昂的死是否是一场意外，仍然是个谜）