Husband and wife Janice (Marsha Mason) and Bill Templeton (John Beck) lead a pleasant life, residing in New York and sending their daughter, Ivy (Susan Swift), to a good school. Things change, though, when the odd Elliot Hoover (Anthony Hopkins) arrives and tells the couple that, after having spent time in India, he believes Ivy is the reincarnated spirit of his daughter, who died years earlier. The Templetons scoff, but ensuing supernatural events soon turn their lives upside down.