After a long journey, a traveller and his wife arrive at the Usher mansion. Upon arriving, however, they discover that the mansion's sibling inhabitants, Roderick and Madeline Usher, have been afflicted with a mysterious malady: Roderick's senses have become painfully acute, while Madeline has become nearly catatonic. That evening, Roderick tells his guests of an old Usher family curse: any time there has been more than one Usher child, all of the siblings have gone insane and died horrible deat...