The film premiered on NBC on October 31, 1978, and subsequently received theatrical releases in Europe under the title Summer of Fear.

She is taken in by her Aunt Leslie and Uncle Tom at their ranch in California, along with their teenage children Rachel and Peter and adolescent son, Bobby.

Rachel is initially thrilled at the thought of having a girl her age around the house and even offers to split her bedroom with her cousin, but Julia seems painfully shy.

The day after the dance, Rachel enters into a competition with Sundance, where the horse is spooked, breaking its leg in the process and forcing a vet to euthanize it.

Rachel speaks to their neighbor, Professor Jarvis, who tells her it may indeed be the work of someone who practices black magic.

She looks in Julia's drawer to find evidence to show Jarvis and discovers a missing photo covered in red paint spots.

Rachel phones the friend in Boston and discovers that Julia supposedly sings in her school's glee club.

Tensions reach a boiling point when Leslie plans a road trip and Rachel finds a map with burn marks on it.

Too late to stop Leslie from leaving on the trip, Rachel develops the roll of film herself and clearly sees that her suspicions have been correct all along—Julia is nowhere to be found in the photos.

Stranger in Our House marked Craven's first film project upon his relocation from New York City to Los Angeles.

[11] From contemporary reviews, the Monthly Film Bulletin "takes a long time to convince that something really devlish is lurking in California's green and pleasant pastures"[12] The review noted that Ms. Purcell "deserves to survive this farrago rather more than the satanic Beverly hillbilly she plays.