After the loss of their father, the Doyle family – Leslie Denise Crosby, Jonathan Dan Byrd, and Jamie Stephanie Patton – move to the Fowler Mortuary in hopes of starting a new life, only to find the place dilapidated and unsettling.
Jonathan goes to the local diner where he meets Cal Bug Hall and his two girlfriends, Tina Courtney Peldon and Sara Tarah Paige. Jonathan also meets Liz Alexandra Adi, Grady Rocky Marquette, and Rita Lee Garlington, Liz's best friend and aunt who worked at the diner. From them, he learns the legend of Bobby Fowler, an abused and deformed boy who reportedly lived in the mortuary. That night, Cal, Sara, and Tina head to the graveyard outside the mortuary to vandalize it, then slip into a crypt where they are attacked by Bobby Fowler.
The next day, Jonathan, Liz and Grady return to Jonathan's house, where Grady gives them drugs. Shortly afterwards, Sheriff Howell Michael Shamus Wiles arrives to welcome Leslie to town. He explains his ongoing effort to stop the so‑called “graveyard babies” and mentions that he’s also looking for Cal, Sara, and Tina. Sheriff Howell investigates the crypts, where Bobby Fowler infects him.
The following day at the diner, Jonathan and Liz are working when Cal and Sara arrive, messy. Cal has a rage attack and Sara begins vomiting black ooze. Rita comes in to calm her down but is infected in the process. At the mortuary, Leslie performs her first embalming, but she makes a mess of the embalming fluids. While cleaning up, one of the bodies rises and infects Leslie. Jonathan, Jamie, Liz, and Grady return to Jonathan's house for dinner, where Leslie—now infected with the mysterious ooze—has prepared a sort of ooze soup. The four notice a black fungus growing on the wall. Liz pours salt into her soup, which makes it bubble and sends Leslie into a rage, attacking Jonathan and Jamie. Liz and Grady quickly escape.
Shortly after, Jonathan fights off his mother and saves Jamie. The group escapes outside, but are forced to retreat into a crypt, pursued by an infected man. They uncover that Bobby lives in the crypt and has dug tunnels beneath the cemetery. They also find Tina, who is still alive, but are attacked by the mother. They discover a ladder that leads back into the house, where they barricade themselves. They question Tina and, to test the infection, cut her hand to see if her blood has turned into the black ooze. Sheriff Howell assaults the house with a shotgun. Tina goes to the kitchen to clean the wound but is infected by contaminated water, and Grady accidentally pours salt on her, burning her. The group realizes the weakness of the infected, but their victory is short‑lived when Jamie is captured.
Shortly after entering the tunnels, they hear things and see a hand punch through Grady's chest, giving him a quiet farewell and the chance to say, > run
before dying. They locate the source—a well filled with black ooze. Jamie is found but captured by Bobby Fowler and taken back to the lair, where they confront him by throwing salt in the well. Cal is killed when the Sheriff blows off his head, and the remaining infected are burned with salt; Bobby is sucked into the well, and the three escape the house. They breathe a sigh of relief, mourning Leslie and Grady, even as they prepare to leave. As they step toward the door, Jonathan is pulled underground, the reanimated Leslie lunges for Jamie, and Liz’s fate remains unknown.
