The governess accepts a position at Bly, agreeing never to contact the children's uncle about any matter.

The governess arrives at Bly by coach and is greeted by housekeeper Mrs. Grose and the beautiful girl Flora.

A letter arrives from Miles's school announcing he has been expelled without providing any explanation.

During an evening walk, the governess spots an unknown man standing boldly atop one of Bly's towers.

The same stranger's face appears pressed against the dining room window before vanishing without a trace.

Mrs. Grose recognizes the governess's description of the intruder as that of the dead valet Peter Quint.

While sitting with Flora at the pond, the governess sees the figure of a pale woman in black across the water.

Mrs. Grose reveals that Peter Quint and the former governess Miss Jessel were scandalously involved and corrupted the children.

The governess encounters Quint's apparition ascending the staircase at night and faces it down until it retreats into darkness.

Miles halts the governess during their Sunday walk to church and demands to know when he will return to school.

The apparition of Miss Jessel materializes across the pond as the governess and Mrs. Grose find Flora at the water.

Flora refuses to acknowledge the figure across the pond and begs Mrs. Grose to take her far away.

Mrs. Grose departs Bly with the feverish Flora, leaving the governess alone with Miles at the estate.

Miles confesses he stole the governess's letter to his uncle when she asks him directly about it.

Miles dies in the governess's arms as his heart stops following the final confrontation with Quint.

A young governess accepts her first position overseeing two orphaned children at Bly, an isolated country estate in England. Strange apparitions soon appear—first a red-haired man on the tower, then a woman in black at the pond—and the housekeeper Mrs. Grose identifies them as the dead valet Quint and the former governess Miss Jessel. Convinced the ghosts are pursuing the children's souls, the governess commits herself to protecting Miles and Flora from supernatural corruption. Her campaign culminates in a confrontation at the pond where Flora coldly refuses to acknowledge the ghost, and Mrs. Grose takes the girl away. Left alone with Miles, the governess presses the boy until he admits to stealing her letter and confesses what led to his expulsion from school. As the final confrontation with Quint reaches its peak, Miles collapses and dies in the governess's arms.

The governess's battle against Bly's ghosts to save two orphaned children.

Douglas announces to a fireside gathering of ghost-story tellers that he knows a tale involving two haunted children.

Douglas delays revealing his story while he sends to his London home to retrieve the locked manuscript.

Flora gives the new governess a tour of the Bly estate, including climbing to the summit of an old machicolated tower.

Miles arrives home from school and his extraordinary beauty and charm convince the governess the expulsion letter is absurd.

Mrs. Grose reveals that Quint died when he suffered a fatal fall on icy ground after a drinking spree.

The governess resolves to protect the children by offering herself as an expiatory victim to draw the evil away from them.

Mrs. Grose admits Miles spent months secretly consorting with Quint and then lied boldly to her face about it.

The governess discovers Flora standing at the bedroom window in the middle of the night, watching the grounds below.

From a tower room, the governess sees Miles standing on the moonlit lawn below, gazing upward at something above her.

Miles admits he arranged to be seen on the lawn at night by directing Flora to wake the governess.

Miles plays piano for the governess until she suddenly realizes Flora has vanished from the house unnoticed.

The governess and Mrs. Grose find Flora emerging from a copse near the pond after she rowed across the water.

Flora falls feverish overnight and shocks Mrs. Grose by raving in foul language no innocent child should know.

Miles and the governess eat dinner alone together in the formal dining room after Mrs. Grose and Flora depart.

Miles stands at the dining room window where Quint once appeared and seems entirely unable to perceive anything outside.

A gathering of ghost-story enthusiasts hears Douglas introduce a tale involving two children before he sends for the governess's manuscript locked away in his London house. The governess's arrival at Bly begins innocuously—a cheerful tour of the estate, the charming return of Miles from school, and days of easy happiness—before the past intrudes with revelations about Quint's depraved influence over Miles and the grim details of the valet's death. As the governess watches the children more closely, she uncovers a series of alarming details: Flora standing at the window at night, Miles staging a midnight appearance on the lawn that he later cheerfully admits to, and Miles using piano playing to distract the governess while his sister slips silently away. The search for the missing Flora leads to the pond, and afterward Flora's fever and shocking language convince Mrs. Grose that something supernatural is truly at work. The final days at Bly, with Miles and the governess dining alone in the formal dining room and Miles peering out the window where Quint once appeared, carry an eerie quiet before the story's violent close.

The stories behind Bly's secrets and the clues hidden in the children's behavior.

Douglas reveals that the governess entrusted him her manuscript before her death after confiding the story to him alone.

The governess accepts the position at Bly after the handsome uncle charms her despite his condition she never contact him.

After Quint vanishes from the window, the governess stands exactly where he stood and peers in, frightening Mrs. Grose.

Mrs. Grose pledges to face whatever comes alongside the governess after hearing about Quint's apparition in the house.

Mrs. Grose admits she never reported Quint's inappropriate conduct with the children to their guardian in London.

The governess concludes that Flora was secretly aware of Miss Jessel's presence at the pond and deliberately said nothing.

The governess glimpses the still figure of a woman seated silently on the bottom step of the staircase one night.

Miles tells the governess he is capable of far worse behavior and walks into church threatening to summon his uncle.

After Miles challenges her authority at the churchyard, the governess decides to abandon her position and leave Bly.

The governess finds Miss Jessel seated at her own schoolroom desk and, confronting the phantom, resolves to stay at Bly.

The governess goes to Miles's room at night and desperately presses the boy to confess what happened at his school.

Miles blows out the governess's candle during her nighttime confrontation at his bedside, plunging the room into darkness.

Mrs. Grose tells the governess that Flora raved in shocking foul language all night, convincing her evil forces are real.

The governess shouts at Quint's face in the dining room window, inadvertently revealing the ghost's presence to the bewildered Miles.

Miles cries out 'Peter Quint—you devil!' as the spectral face vanishes from the window for the last time.

The frame narrative reveals that the governess entrusted her manuscript to Douglas before her death after confiding the story to him alone, hinting at how deeply she guarded her experience. Her fateful decision to accept the position at Bly despite an unsettling condition sets everything in motion, and early choices—pledging alliance with Mrs. Grose, learning that Quint's conduct was never reported, and resolving to act as a self-sacrificing protector—define her course. Turning points accumulate as the governess glimpses a woman seated on the staircase, recognizes that Flora had been deliberately hiding her awareness of Miss Jessel, and is pushed to the edge of resignation before a vision of Miss Jessel at her own desk steels her resolve to stay. A fraught nighttime visit to Miles's bedroom and a dramatic churchyard confrontation reveal the growing psychological pressure on both governess and child, while Mrs. Grose's report of Flora's shocking overnight raving seals the governess's determination to isolate Miles and extract the truth. The final confrontation ends with Miles crying out Quint's name into the air, a moment that brings the governess's obsessive campaign to its devastating conclusion.