Bickering siblings Johnny and Barbra drive to a rural Pennsylvania cemetery to place a wreath on their father"s grave. A pale-faced man lumbers toward the pair. The man suddenly grabs Barbra as Johnny rushes to save her. Barbra flees in Johnny"s car, driving it into a tree. She abandons the car and runs into a nearby farmhouse to hide and soon discovers that others like the man are outside. In a panic and attempting to flee the house, Barbra is intercepted by Ben, who arrives in a pickup truck and attacks the mysterious figures with a tire iron. Ben finds a rifle and a radio as Barbra lies incapacitated on a couch in the living room. The two are unaware that Harry and Helen Cooper, their daughter Karen, and teenage couple Tom and Judy have been hiding in the cellar. One of the attackers bit Karen earlier and she has fallen ill. Radio reports explain that an epidemic of mass murder is sweeping across the eastern seaboard of the United States. Later, Ben discovers a television upstairs and the emergency broadcaster reveals that the murderers are consuming their victims" flesh scientists and military generals are not sure of the cause of the reanimation, but one scientist is ce. A subsequent broadcast reports that the murders are being perpetrated by the recently deceased who have returned to life. A final report instructs that a gunshot or heavy blow to the head will stop the gouls and that posses of armed men are patrolling the countryside to restore order.