The workers of a dye factory have their pay cut by 20% when the factory owner brings in some Manchu thugs to try and increase production. Desperate to reclaim their full wages, the workers hire an actor to impersonate a priest and kung-fu expert from the temple of Shaolin. The factory owner proves the actor a fraud, and punishes all those involved. The young actor feels he has let the workers down, and promises to atone. He sets out for Shaolin, determined to be accepted as a kung-fu pupil at the elite temple.

Constantly mistreated by her cruel, alcoholic husband Chun-yu (Wang Jung), frail Chan Sau-ying (Tanny Tien Ni) awaits certain death from tuberculosis. New servant girl Yi-wah (Chen Szu-chia) takes pity on her mistress’ plight but, after suffering Chun-yu’s abuse once too often, the pair proceed to drown him one evening. They dump his body in a near-by pond but Sau-ying believes that the man’s bloated corpse has risen from the bog to seek vengeance. Yi-wah dismisses her claims as the delusions brought about by guilt and her illness but it appears that the house is indeed being haunted by a corpse that will not be easily appeased.