The nights of Sara's childhood had been haunted by dreams of a candlelit figure glimpsed in a mirror but by day she was bright, passionate and indomitable. In spite of her mother's opposition she decides to follow her benefactor's son Ritchie Temple to San Francisco. He had always been the man for her. But Sara could not know about the terrors that were in store for her. For it was in the towering old Varady mansion that she was suddenly to find her childhood nightmare turning into reality and her dreams turned to dust by the terrible secrets from the past.