Charles Dexter Ward travels with his wife to Arkham to inspect a large house he has inherited. It was once owned by his great grandfather Joseph Curwen, a disciple of the devil, who cursed the local villagers as they burned him at the stake. Everyone is hostile to Ward, blaming the curse for the number of mutants in the village. Indeed, Ward's arrival allows Curwen to take over his body and restart his evil ways by revenging himself on the descendants of those who killed him