When a young couple, Karen and Ian O'Rourke, move into an old home they discover unique symbols painted on the walls. When they post the image on the Internet, Dr. Douglas Monaghan believes they have found the Tree of Life, a symbol of the Order of the Golden Dawn, a 19th century spiritualist group. At the end of the 19th century Robert Dunbar, a spiritualist, occupied the home and he may have decoded a cipher manuscript that was central to the Order. As Monaghan researches the history of the house he learns that it has a macabre history including the previous owner who was found dead at the bottom of the stairs and Dunbar himself who killed his wife and was hung for it. As Karen begins to see spirits from the past, she desperately wants to leave the house and move on.

As Professor Monaghan continues his research into the house, he finds that there may have been other beliefs at work there and suggests to the O'Rourke's that they leave the house. When they find Rebecca Muir's diary, Monaghan starts to fill the gaps in the history of the house and the Dunbars. What he learns however is that the O'Rourke's may not have acquired the house by chance and that the spirits there have designs on the O'Rourke's themselves.