One of the creepiest ghost stories ever told, a tale of real fear and imagined peril. The often absent master of a remote country house hires a young governess to care for his orphaned niece and nephew. The eight-year-old Flora immediately charms the young woman, a parson's daughter, and Miles, who is two years older, seems like the ideal young gentleman when he is unceremoniously brought home from his boarding school. However, the staff's whispered rumours regarding the previous governess, Miss Jessel, and her lover, the enigmatic valet, Peter Quint, both of whom are now deceased, as well as Miles' obstinate unwillingness to disclose the reason for his dismissal, are alarming.