A repressed junior librarian, frustrated with looking after her sick father, finds herself drawn into a dangerous relationship with the man who might have murdered her mean-spirited grandmother.

A bored housewife has an affair with her mother's lodger.

The orderly suburban life of a 1950's English town is turned on its head when the teenaged daughter of one of the residents writes a steamy bestseller featuring characters obviously based on the local population.

While holding a séance for skeptical novelist Charles Condomine, self-proclaimed 'spiritualist medium' Madame Arcati inadvertently summons the spirit of his deceased first wife Elvira, leading to an increasingly complex love triangle with Ruth, his current wife of five years.