The real beginning of this story in in 1610, when an Hungarian countess is walled up alive in her own castle. Three centuries later, in the London Hospital for Diseases of the Nervous System, Dr. Peter Pilgrim admits a new patient - a beautiful Swedish infant called Britt Hallström who bears more resemblance to Sleeping Beauty than a normal child of her age. Pilgrim's diagnosis of infected blood is greeted with ridicule by his superior - and he is temporarily 'relieved of duties'. Pilgrim becomes involved with neurologist Dr. Axel Stromberg who seems to be part of the vampire legend he is researching. Pilgrim resolves to expose Stromberg and with that decision, sets in motion a series of events that will lead to a horrifying climax.