Sir Dominic Crabbe invites his nephew Tom to his secluded, rural manor house for an undisclosed purpose. On arrival, Tom discovers his uncle is being haunted by a strange apparition that torments the household and has already led to the death of the maid...

Answering a peculiar advertisement for a doctor and entomologist, Philip is hired by the sinister Lord Linchmere to befriend his brother-in-law, Sir Thomas Rossiter, a famous and reclusive beetle hunter.