Amanda comes from a small mining village in North Wales, a place where you never expect momentous things to happen, but when a young girl is found hacked to death in a pond it sends shock waves through the village. Amanda marries Paul Marriott, although he is fifteen years her senior it is a marriage made in heaven. Paul buys a big house on the mountain, a lonely and desolate place that he manages to get at a very cheap price. The former tenants who owned the property disappeared leaving all their possessions behind. There are three more deaths in the village, brutal and horrific, after the police arrest a suspect they have to let him go, there is not enough evidence to charge him. Paul goes out to buy cigarettes one night and suffers a near fatal accident, eventually leading to his sad and sudden death. Amanda is left to cope with her grief. Now, the killer stalks Amanda, so Madeline who has been her friend for so many years stays with her in the big rambling house. After coming home late one night she finds Madeline has been murdered and mutilated in the house, she tries to call for help but the phone is dead, but she does hear the killers distant breathing on the end of the line. The killer is still in the house and he is upstairs somewhere where her daughter is sleeping, she can't leave her child alone in the house while she goes for help so that leaves only one option, she has to fight for their survival. After sustaining terrible injuries she manages to get Bethany and herself into the cellar where she discovers the terrible secret of the dark house.