On a snowy night, an elderly woman tucks her granddaughter into bed. The girl asks why it snows, and the grandmother tells the story of a man with scissors for hands, who lived in a mansion at the top of a hill. She explains that an inventor created the man, whose name was Edward, but died before he was finished. Thus, Edward was left incomplete and alone. Many years earlier, Peg Boggs goes door-to-door selling Avon cosmetics to her neighbors, all of whom live in homogenous, pastel-colored houses. Unable to make a sale, Peg drives to the end of the street, where an out-of-place gothic mansion sits atop a hill. Trespassing onto the property, she discovers a garden full of beautifully manicured topiaries. Peg wanders inside the mansion and follows a metallic sound to the top floor, where parts of the roof have caved in. In the corner, Peg sees a cowering figure with scissors for hands. She starts to run, but he gently implores her not to go. She asks where his parents are, and he tells her his father “didn’t wake up.” Peg notices scars all over his face and dabs them with some astringent from her Avon sales kit. The young man identifies himself as Edward, and she offers to take him home with her. At the Boggs residence, Peg points out photographs of her husband, Bill, her son, Kevin, and her teenaged daughter, Kim. Edward stares longingly at Kim’s photograph, and Peg tells him that Kim will return from a trip in a few days. She gives Edward some of Bill’s old clothes, but he has a hard time dressing himself and accidentally snips the suspenders. Peg mentions that she knows a doctor who could help him with his hands and promises to mask his facial scars using Avon cosmetics. Nosy neighborhood women telephone to ask about Peg’s mysterious new guest, but she ignores their calls. At dinner, Peg’s son, Kevin, gawks as Edward attempts to use a fork, while her husband, Bill, engages him in conversation. Later, Peg tucks Edward into Kim’s waterbed and promises he will become acclimated. The next day, Bill prunes a shrub in the backyard while listening to a baseball game on the radio. Edward wanders outside and prunes another shrub, quickly shaping it into a dinosaur. Bill and Kevin look on in amazement, and Edward prunes more shrubs in the shape of each Boggs family member. Esmeralda, a religious zealot, wanders over from her house, and declares that Edward is from hell. Bill and Peg run her off, just as Peg’s friend Marge, the libidinous Joyce, overweight Helen, and other nosy neighbors show up at the front door. The women demand that Peg host a barbecue, and she reluctantly agrees. Later, at the barbecue, neighbors marvel at Edward’s topiaries. Joyce flirts with Edward and spoon-feeds him her ambrosia salad. Other women line up to feed him and beseech him to prune their shrubs. That night, Edward lies in Kim’s bed and recalls his inventor reading to him from an etiquette book. Kim returns home early and screams when she finds Edward in her room. He panics and pokes holes in the waterbed. Peg calms Kim, while Bill leads Edward to a pull-out couch in the basement. Soon, Edward’s topiaries line the neighborhood streets. Pruning yet another neighbor’s shrubs, Edward notices a poodle in need of grooming and gives the dog a stylized haircut. Neighbors line up for Edward’s dog grooming services, but Joyce demands that he cut her hair as well. Edward becomes the neighborhood hairstylist, giving women topiary-like hairstyles. He continues to be infatuated with Kim, whose brutish boyfriend, Jim, makes fun of Edward. Kim and Jim watch on television as Edward is interviewed on a local program. Audience members ask him questions, including whether or not he plans to get prosthetic hands. Edward does not answer, but when the host asks whether or not he has a girl friend, Edward stares into the camera. Kim watches him intently as he moves toward the microphone. When he touches the mic, he receives an electric shock, and Jim laughs. Joyce shows Edward an empty beauty salon where she wants to start a business with him. In a backroom, she attempts to seduce him, but he runs away. Bill encourages the salon idea, and Peg accompanies Edward to apply for a bank loan. The bank rejects him due to his lack of credit history. Meanwhile, Jim discovers that Edward can pick locks and devises a scheme to rob his own parents. A reluctant Kim talks Edward into helping them, and Jim lies that the house belongs to criminals who robbed his parents. Edward picks a lock to the room where Jim’s dad keeps his valuables, but the door closes behind him and an alarm goes off. Jim escapes with Kim, who does not want to abandon Edward. Later, Peg and Bill arrive to bail Edward out of jail. They assume he was trying to steal money for the salon. A psychiatrist determines that Edward never learned right from wrong, and charges are dropped. Jilted after her failed attempt at seduction, Joyce says she had a bad feeling about Edward, leading other neighbors to turn against him. The Boggs stand by him, however, and busy themselves preparing for their annual Christmas party. Kim thanks Edward for not implicating her or Jim. He admits he knew they were breaking into Jim’s house, but he did it for her. At dinner, Bill lectures Edward on ethics. He asks what he would do if he found a stranger’s money, and Edward says he would give it to loved ones, not the police. Kim defends his answer, claiming it is the nice thing to do. As Edward carves an ice sculpture for the Christmas party, Kim sees ice shavings floating through the air like snowflakes. She walks outside and twirls in the “snow,” but Jim appears, startling Edward and causing him to scrape Kim’s hand. Jim pushes Edward and calls him a freak. Edward stalks off, and Kim tells Jim she does not love him anymore. Edward vandalizes his topiaries and punctures the tire on a car, prompting neighbors to call police. Peg and Bill search for Edward, who returns to the Boggs home to find Kim alone. She asks him to hold her, but he says he cannot, and she embraces him instead. Edward recalls when his inventor presented him with human hands just before dropping dead, leaving him stuck with scissor hands. Outside, Kevin is almost hit by a car, but Edward saves him. Neighbors gather as Edward accidentally scrapes Kevin’s face. Jim emerges from the crowd and attacks Edward, whose scissor hand slices Jim’s arm. Kim urges Edward to run as police arrive. Edward retreats to his mansion. On the property, police officer Allen fires shots into the air, purposely allowing Edward to get away. Allen tells the neighbors that everything is taken care of, but Joyce does not believe him and leads a mob up the hill. Kim runs ahead, however, and finds Edward on the top floor. Jim shows up with a gun and tries to shoot Edward. The roof caves in, and Kim stops Jim’s attack by knocking him to the ground. In self-defense, Edward pierces Jim ‘s abdomen and pushes him out an open window. Jim falls to his death. Kim cries as Edward tells her goodbye. She kisses him and declares her love for him. On her way out, she picks up a scissor hand attached one of the inventor’s machines. As the angry mob discovers Jim’s body, Kim greets them and announces that Edward and Jim killed each other. She presents the scissor hand as evidence of Edward’s death. Many years later, the grandmother concludes her story, revealing that she is Kim. Her granddaughter asks if Edward is still alive. Kim does not know for sure, but it never snowed here before Edward carved the ice sculpture. Now, every time it snows, she attributes it to him. The granddaughter encourages her to see him again, but Kim prefers that Edward remember her the way she was. Meanwhile, at the mansion on the hill, an unchanged Edward carves ice sculptures, sending flurries of ice shavings into the air.