- After the death of their son William Morton, the diplomat Laurie Morton and her husband, the scientist Terence Morton adopt a boy, James. From the moment James moves to Morton's house in the country on, weird things happen with the family.
- William Morton, the 10-year-old son of botanist Terence Morton (Gary Bond) and his wife Laurie (Barbara Kellerman) dies after consuming a toxic chemical in his father's lab.
The Mortons then adopt another child, James, from an orphanage. However, once he goes to live with them, strange occurrences begin to happen. Laurie's car goes out of control as it passes the cemetery where William is buried, maggots miraculously appear in the Mortons' dinner, and a toy rabbit that Laurie gives to James becomes smeared with blood. There is no explanation for these events and throughout them all, James remains strangely calm and unemotional.
Terence is working on a protein supplement from a plant that he cultivated which may help to eliminate hunger in the poorer nations of the world. He is visited the next day by representatives from the organization he hopes to sell it to, as James takes Nipper, the family's pet Rottweiler, for a walk to the cemetery. Upon reaching William's grave, a strange wind occurs and Nipper goes wild. He runs back to the house and attacks Terence's lab rabbits, and then Terence. The couple are forced to poison the dog and bury him.
That night, James finds William's diary. It describes how neglected he felt with his parents too busy with their work to devote any attention to him. James shows it to Laurie who becomes increasingly distraught. Meanwhile, Nipper's howls are heard outside. William's ghost then appears to his parents in the lab, telling them how he was saddened as they neglected him in the midst of their busy schedules, prioritizing work over him. He kills a valued rabbit and runs away with Terence's prized plant, the basis of his years of work. Terence chases after him, despite Laurie's warning, and they reach the cemetery. In the darkness, Terence falls into an open grave and is killed. William's ghost and the plant then disappear and Laurie finds James lying on William's grave. James awakens and asks her why they are there. They look at the gravestone which now says Terence Morton and his beloved son William. The plant that was Terence's work is now growing on the grave in the shape of a wreath, which Laurie says is "for all the unloved of this earth", as she walks away with James.
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