A young pathology med student suspects that the spirit of a dead cadaver in the hospital morgue where she works is killing off all those who handle or desecrate the body.

When cocky, young surfing champion David Monroe wipes out on a big wave, he slips back in time to 1911 Hawaii. Washing up on Waikiki beach, he discovers the true spirit of surfing when he is befriended by a young Hawaiian beachboy not yet known to the world - the future Olympic and surfing legend Duke Kahanamoku.

It's Christmas Eve, and a group of disparate characters is heading home for the night when the dead begin to rise and seek human flesh. Who will survive the onslaught?