In 1844, Miranda Wells (Gene Tierney), a peasant girl living near Greenwich, Connecticut, received a letter from her upper-class cousin Nicholas Van Ryn (Vincent Price). Nicholas hoped that Miranda could go to his residence Dragonwyck as her daughter's tutor. Miranda, who was looking forward to the upper-class life, gladly went there, only to hear the strange rumors circulating in Dragonwyck on the first night of her arrival, but Miranda did not take it seriously. Some time later, Nicholas's wife died suddenly. That night, Nicholas expressed his love for her to Miranda, but Miranda felt that he should not accept Nicholas's love at this time, so he chose to leave Dragonwyck, but did not know that her fate had been deeply involved in the curse of Dragonwyck.