George and Winifred cairn are brother and sister, have lived together all of their lives and are nearing the end of their natural days. Victims of a brutal father in their youth, they are tormented by the fear that he will be waiting for them when they die. They visit irene karp, a medium, in the hope that she will be able to provide a bridge to the 'other' side, to assuage their fears by contacting their deceased father.

Joseph Kovack has been a policeman and a missionary, has seen many horrors in both capacities, and is now a lay cleric who doubts his faith is strong enough to enter the clergy fully. His bishop, Father Kemble, a wise man, now elderly, has no such doubts, but finds it difficult to persuade Kovack of that. Kovack's personal circumstances compound the problem, his wife is leaving him for another man and he has to leave the family home due to debts she has accrued without his knowledge.

Jessica and Robert are cousins. They are thrown together after a drunken fling and subsequent pregnancy and the condemnation by their respective families.They seek somewhere to call home and when they arrive at Irene and Dominic Karp's tenement boarding house they feel that they may have finally found that home.

Jim Shields is a detective inspector, nearing retirement and with failing health, still 'baby-sits' his officers, finding it difficult to take a back seat and delegate. Plagued with a sudden influx of 'snuff' movies on the black market, he struggles to find the source and enlists the help of his old friend and former colleague, Joe Kovack, who works as a community liaison officer for the church, working with the courts and the police.

Pressured into selling his house by the finance company, Kovack also approaches the Karps for temporary accommodation at their boarding house.

It soon becomes clear to all that the tenement in Morvellham Road hides a secret that is as old as time itself, and a seductive evil that transcends anything that their wildest nightmares could reveal. A battle for the corruption of their souls will take place behind the façade of this very ordinary victorian building, bringing them all together where human weakness will prove to be the ultimate failing.