His wife perished in what was ruled an accidental fire, and he now raises his preadolescent daughter, Emily, with assistance from a devoted governess, Jill, both of whom are still haunted by the death.

After an initial shoot at an abandoned gallery where the painting resides, the developed film shows what seems to be an ectoplasmic presence the crew had not seen when they shot it.

When Michael and Joanna return late at night to figure out why this happens, Emily has a nightmare of them in danger, and concurrent with her hysterics, a statue falls, almost killing the couple.

Joanna, sensing that governess Jill has also harbored feelings for Michael, tries to foster conviviality by taking everyone out for an afternoon of play in a cliffside park.

He meets with the Countess once more, and she shows him the letters, which detail how the girl in her vision, named Emilia, succumbed to demonic possession and killed her family.

Emily gets into the gallery and is horrified to discover that she is responsible for the deaths of both her governess and her mother; she takes the sword and stabs the painting in manic terror.

[1] It had a story written by the husband and wife writing team of Franco Marotta and Laura Toscano along with director Massimo Dallamano.