The road in front of Dr. Louis Creed’s rural Maine home frequently claims the lives of neighborhood pets. Louis (Dale Midkiff) has recently moved from Chicago to Ludlow with his wife Rachel (Denise Crosby), their children, Ellie (Blaze Berdahl) and Gage (Miko Hughes) and pet cat. Near their house, local children have created a cemetery for the dogs and cats killed on the busy highway. Deeper in the woods lies another graveyard, an ancient Indian burial ground with sinister properties, which their elderly neighbor, Jud Crandall (Fred Gwynne) shows Lewis when the family cat is killed. Both Jud and Victor Pascow (Brad Greenquist), a student killed when he is run down by a truck shortly after Lewis begins his new job at the local college, try to warn Lewis of the consequences of using the ancient burial ground but he ignores them, much to his later regret.

Stephen had a cameo as a minister at a funeral.