学生安德森(克里斯托弗·里夫 Christopher Reeve 饰)在编剧上的的过人才华让如今早已江郎才尽的辛尼(迈克尔·凯恩 Michael Caine 饰)又羡慕又嫉妒,安德森让他想起了自己曾经有过的那些春风得意的时光。在辛尼的指导下,安德森完成了一个名叫《死亡计 中计》的剧本,准备在辛尼家中进行试演。辛尼从剧本中看出了商机,他明白,如此完美的剧本,必定会成为圈子里炙手可热的作品。
辛尼和妻子迈拉(黛恩·坎农 Dyan Cannon 饰)决定设计杀死安德森,将剧本据为己有,幸运的是,他们的诡计没能瞒住敏感的邻居海格(Irene Worth 饰)和精明的律师波特(亨瑞·琼斯 Henry Jones 饰),眼看着安德森一步一步的走向了死亡的陷阱,两人决定向其伸出援手。
John Muller, medical school dropout and brilliant crook, plans a holdup which goes a little bit wrong, and finds vindictive gambler Rocky Stansyck after him. At the end of his tether, he stumbles onto a lucky chance to assume an impenetrable new identity as psychiatrist Victor Bartok. But irony piles on as Muller finds it's out of the frying pan, into the fire.
Sir Karell Borotyn appears to have been killed by Count Mora, a vampire believed to haunt the local village. Now his daughter Irena is the count's next target. Enter Professor Zelen, an expert on vampires who's sent in to prevent her death. At the same time, secrets are revealed surrounding the circumstances of Sir Karell's death.