A small New England hamlet called "Salem's Lot" has white clapboard homes, streets lined with trees, and sturdy church steeples. Of course, there are rumours of unusual events, but they are common in any community of this type. Ben Mears has come back to the Lot in order to finish his book and exorcise the nightmares that have plagued him ever since he was a young boy and the incident he saw in the Marsten home. He discovers a stranger who makes Ben feel uneasy has rented the place. Things start to happen after that, including the horrible killing of a dog and the disappearance of a child.