 Alex West (Bud Cort) is a man whom roomed with Norman Bates at the state lunatic asylum for nearly 20 years. After the death of Bates, Alex finds that he s in Norman s will as the inheritor of the Bates Motel, which has been vacant since the time of Norman s arrest. Alex travels to Fairview, California and with a little help from a teenage runaway, named Willie (Lori Perty), Alex struggles to re-open the motel for business, only to have strange going ons happen. Is someone trying to drive him away, or is the motel is really haunted by the ghost of Norman s mother?