 Rufus Sinclair dies leaving a will vowing to return from the grave and wreak terrible vengeance on his family if certain conditions surrounding his death and burial are not observed; for his long-suffering wife Abigail (Helen Waren), he predicts death by fire; eldest son Bruce (Robert Milli)is promised a violent death by disfiguration; the next son, Philip (Roy Scheider as Roy R. Scheider)is informed he will die by suffocation; and Philip s wife Vivian (Margot Hartman)will drown. Several days after the reading of the will by family attorney James Benson (Hugh Franklin), the body of Rufus vanishes from its crypt, and the chain of retribution prophesied by ol  Rufus begins.