A funeral service for Arnold, a British lord, transforms into a wedding ceremony. As Arnold’s wife, Jocelyn, watches from the pews, his mistress, Karen recites her vows to the corpse. Outside the crypt, Arnold’s lawyer and cousin, Douglas Whitehead, and his associate, Evan Lyons, tell Jocelyn and her brother-in-law, Robert, to gather that evening for an explanation of Arnold’s will. Meanwhile, Karen returns to Arnold’s manor with the corpse and is warmly welcomed by his sister, Hester. When the family congregates around Arnold’s corpse in the manor parlor, Douglas plays a cassette recording of Arnold divulging his will. Hester receives a minimal monthly stipend and the right to continue living in the house, Douglas maintains his retainer and Robert is given nothing. While Jocelyn is awarded a Rolls Royce and one share in Arnold’s cosmetics company, Karen inherits his fortune. Arnold says that his cash is hidden in a vault, but he will not reveal its location until later. He explains that Karen deserves the inheritance because she stayed with him despite Jocelyn’s refusal for a divorce and his terminal illness, and he announces that in return, Karen must keep his body by her side. As Jocelyn leaves, she warns Karen that she won’t get away with usurping her estate. Robert congratulates the new bride by kissing her passionately and reminds her that they no longer need to hide their affair. As Karen admits her fear that Arnold is watching them, an eye appears behind the socket of Arnold’s portrait that hangs above his casket. Robert assures Karen that they will hire a lawyer to break the terms of the will tying her to Arnold’s corpse. Hester brings Karen a package and when they play the enclosed cassette, Arnold reprimands Robert for appropriating his wife. Terrified, Karen speculates that Arnold is not really dead, but Robert claims that his brother knew him well enough to predict his every move. Robert asks the corpse to reveal who has been recruited to scare them: Douglas, Hester, Arnold’s faithful Hindu servant, Dybbi, or Jocelyn? Meanwhile, Jocelyn and Evan frolic in the Rolls Royce and conspire to take over the estate. Later, as Jocelyn waits for her lover, she is killed when she applies a poisonous face cream that corrodes her skin. When Karen tells Robert she believes Arnold is responsible for Jocelyn’s death, Dybbi gives them another package. On the tape, Arnold warns that Karen and Robert will meet the same fate as Jocelyn if they do not abide by his will. Although Karen panics, Robert convinces her to return to his flat. As they make love on his couch, Karen sees Arnold’s corpse watching from an armchair and screams. When they return to the manor, they find the corpse back in its casket. Fearing her life, Karen threatens to leave, but Robert insists on finding the hidden cash and looks inside the casket. He discovers mud on Arnold’s shoes, then calms Karen by offering to take her to an Inn. While he waits for her, Robert dresses in a suit that has recently arrived for Arnold. As he gloats to the corpse that he will soon claim everything that once belonged to his brother, Robert is suffocated by the suit as it tightens around his body. After Robert’s death, Karen decides to leave once and for all, but she hears another tape from Arnold as she packs. He admits to making the suit for Robert and warns that there is no escape. At a meeting with Douglas, Karen contends that Arnold is still alive and tells him that she is next in line to be killed. Despite her protests, Karen agrees to pay Douglas’s fee of fifty percent of the estate and “fringe benefits” of sexual favors if he can release her from her contractual attachment to Arnold’s corpse. That evening, Douglas and Karen hear Arnold’s voice, warning them to avoid the consequences of betrayal faced by Jocelyn and Robert. Convinced of Karen’s claim that a living person is behind the attacks, Douglas promises to solve the problem. As he waits for the perpetrator, however, Douglas drinks Arnold’s cognac and is poisoned. The next morning, his body is deposited in a trash compactor. Evan visits Karen and claims that he can help if she consents to the same agreement she had with Douglas. Dybbi overhears Karen tell Evan that Arnold spent his time in a basement laboratory and as Evan kisses her, Dybbi sneaks downstairs to look for the hidden cash. As he leans his head into a secret compartment, however, a guillotine slices through his neck and Evan and Karen discover the body. Later, Evan joins Karen in her shower, but the walls close around them and they are both killed. After Karen’s burial, Hester plays a tape in which Arnold congratulates his sister for carrying out her assignment. She resents his assertion of being the mastermind behind the murders and admits that she has used him to inherit the family fortune. Despite the stipulations of his will, Hester has Arnold’s body cremated. Jonesy, the gravedigger, asks for his payoff, but Hester hits him over the head with his shovel and he falls into Arnold’s plot. As she places Arnold’s urn in the crypt, she realizes that the cash is hidden in its vault. When she climbs inside, the door closes behind her. A recorded message from Arnold explains that he had devised this moment of reckoning in case she deceived him. As she begs for her release, Arnold says that he has achieved his final wish and they will live in the crypt together for eternity.