Plain-looking Catherine Morland is an avid reader whose imagination conjures up all manner of supernatural goings-on. But she is also a romantic who longs to be courted by a handsome stranger, Henry Tilney, whom she meets while staying with her dim-witted aunt and uncle. Henry’s darkly reclusive family owns a brooding mansion teetering on bankruptcy. Patriarch General Tilney (a vampire) mistakenly believes Catherine to be wealthy and sees her presence as an opportunity to give his estate the resources it needs. Catherine, of course, is oblivious to these machinations and accepts his invitation to visit the old manor house.
