Tamiya, an egomaniacal samurai, determines to reunite with his wife Oiwa, who's left him after a murder scandal. When her sister Osode is tricked into prostitution by a masseuse, Tamiya is joined by his friend Naosuke in turning the situation into a plot to win back Oiwa, which complicates as a new girl enters the picture. Tamiya's scheming injustices backfire in the form of an onryo, a vengeance-seeking ghost, and yet the movie's horror is entirely of human contrivance. Based on the famous Japanese Kabuki play Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan, written by Tsuruya Nanboku IV in 1825.