In 1765, in the small town of Arkham in New England, sinister things take place and young girls disappear without a trace. Soon the inhabitants have exposed Joseph Curwen as the culprit and as a sorcerer and burn him at the stake. But Joseph Curwen's final curse causes only deformed children to be born in Arkham from then on. When his descendant Charles Dexter Ward appears over 100 years later, he is not exactly warmly received. And indeed Ward is soon under the spell of his ancestor and takes up with the help of a book connection with the dark forces.