哥特式风格故事，背景设定在1880的伦敦，男爵在挖坟埋在父亲之时偶然的找回了遗留在他父亲口袋的中奖彩票，随后他脸上露出了诡异的笑容。影片的广告噱，”Punishment Poll（惩罚投票）“，当影片情节进行到高潮部分时， 导演Castle突然出现在荧幕上给观众解释如何行使自己的投票权。每一位观众手里拿到了一张印有拇指的卡片，他们可以任一做出上或下的方向以决定Mr. Sardonicus在影片结尾是复活还是死亡？据不完全统计，基本上没有一位观众不是希望电影中反叛得到应有的报应。
In 1828, the bankrupt Pyncheon family fight over Seven Gables, the ancestral mansion. To obtain the house, Jaffrey Pyncheon obtains his brother Clifford's false conviction for murder. Hepzibah, Clifford's sweet fiancée, patiently waits twenty years for his release, whereupon Clifford and his former cellmate, abolitionist Matthew, have a certain scheme in mind.
