生物學教授詹尼西爾（Pierre Brasseur 飾）因一次車禍使心愛的女兒克莉絲汀（Edith Scob 飾）面容盡毀，女兒傷愈后只能終日戴著瘆人的白色面具，痛苦非常。愛女心切且心懷內疚的詹尼西爾與助手路易絲（Alida Valli 阿莉達?瓦莉 飾）偽裝克莉絲汀失蹤、死亡的假象，暗中誘拐與女兒年齡相仿的女性，將其麻醉后剝掉面皮，移植到克莉絲汀臉上。　　但手術接連失敗，犧牲者也不斷增加。親眼所見諸多同齡女孩慘遭殺害，克莉絲汀心中痛苦不已。另一方面，眾多女孩失蹤的案件也引起了警方的注意，他們逐漸將目標鎖在瘋狂的詹尼西爾身上……

　　Ryan O'Neil是一位在戰斗中受傷后患有PTSD的退伍軍人，他懷孕的妻子斯蒂芬妮回到家中。她的哥哥托尼是一個腐敗的警察，她的丈夫一直在為這個國家服務，她一直在幫她。瑞恩和托尼從來都不喜歡對方，而托尼試圖干涉他們的婚姻，事情變得激烈起來。但是，當瑞恩在夜晚開始在他的房子里閃現出殺手，外星人和其他奇怪生物的閃光和幻影時，他不確定這是真的還是只在他腦海中。斯蒂芬妮已經和瑞恩在一起，對丈夫的行為深表擔憂。隨著歲月的流逝，瑞恩很快就會發現他的噩夢在他身上縈繞著什么邪惡的存在。

　　The main character is Dr. Max Holst, a successful neurosurgeon. One day an intense little man named Steinmetz shows up, who has the real ability to create objects out of thin air, using only his mind. As no one believes him at first, he is held at a ward for mental patients, but manifests the key to his door and escapes. As he has a special interest in Dr. Holst, Steinmetz subsequently invites Holst to his large mansion, which is full of expensive paintings and sculptures, and proves to him that he can in fact materialise objects. Steinmetz’s abilities are evolving by leaps and bounds, and is progressing from being able to create objects only to being able to create living things. His ultimate ambition is to be able to create a human being. He tells Dr. Holst that if he will only perform a certain brain operation on him, Steinmetz will become able to attain his goal. He’s got all the necessary equipment set up in his basement. Dr. Holst, however, is too spooked by the whole thing to agree to this mad scheme, and refuses. Steinmetz then sets about manipulating Holst’s life, to pressure him into performing the operation. By then Steinmetz has become able to create a temporary human being, and in the hope that he can perhaps make his own creation perform the operation, he manifests a doppelganger of Dr. Holst. This double proceeds to take over Dr. Holst’s life, creating chaos for him professionally and personally. And then Dr. Holst starts fighting back. The ending has the dual virtue of being both unexpected and satisfying.

　　一位世界著名的考古學家和一位務實的律師在童年紐帶多年后重新聯系，當時他們天真無邪的友誼變成了堅不可破的東西。