In Trinity, South Caroline, the boy Caleb Temple is celebrating his birthday with his deranged father and his beloved disturbed and traumatized sister Merlyn Temple. Out of the blue, she starts repeating over and over "someone's at the door" and her father tries to kill her. Caleb flees and brings Sheriff Lucas Buck and Deputy Ben Healy that arrest his father. However Ben accidentally witnesses Lucas breaking Merlyn's neck in her room and blaming her father for the death. Caleb goes to the hospital and the alcoholic Dr. Matt Crower examines him. Lucas comes to the hospital expecting to adopt Caleb and does not allow that the sheriff takes custody of the boy. Then Lucas goes to the jail and Caleb's father mysteriously commits suicide. Meanwhile Caleb's distant cousin Gail Emory comes to Trinity to take custody of the boy. Caleb receives messages written in blood telling him to go home and he goes and meets the spirit of Merlyn that shows that their mother was raped by the sheriff. Lucas uses the schoolteacher Selena Coombs, who is his lover, to control Ben. Gail and Matt go to Caleb's house trying to rescue the boy from Lucas.

Caleb flees and misleads Sheriff Lucas Buck that is chasing him with his men, dogs and Gail. He sees a burial and discovers that his father is dead and buried side by side with Merlyn. He finds a moribund man trapped in an abandoned house and seeks out Dr. Matt Crower to help him. Gail identifies the man as a missing journalist. Meanwhile the coroner forges the autopsies of Gage and Merlyn reporting as informed by Lucas and he is haunted by Merlyn.

Lucas Buck pulls strings in order to make sure he adopts Caleb. Caleb meets Loris Holt, a lady who seems to have a knowledge of the occult. The local judge gets to decide who will adopt Caleb.