The narrative begins with Jonathan Harker's perilous journey to Transylvania to complete a real estate transaction for the enigmatic Count Dracula. Isolated in a decaying mountaintop fortress, Harker gradually realizes he is a captive and uncovers the horrifying truth of his host's vampiric nature, witnessing impossible acts of climbing and discovering three terrifying female phantoms who threaten his life. Escaping this nightmare by a desperate descent, Harker returns broken, while back in England, his fiancée Mina visits her friend Lucy Westenra at the seaside resort of Whitby. During their stay, a strange storm brings a wrecked Russian schooner into the harbour, its dead captain lashed to the wheel, and an enormous wolf leaps ashore to vanish into the shadows.
Soon after, Lucy begins to suffer from a mysterious, wasting malady characterized by lethargy, sleepwalking, and two tiny puncture wounds on her throat. Alarmed by her deteriorating condition, Dr. John Seward summons his former mentor, the brilliant and unorthodox Professor Van Helsing, to diagnose the affliction.
Van Helsing suspects a supernatural agency, attempting to protect Lucy with wreaths of strong-smelling garlic and round-the-clock vigilance. Despite these desperate interventions, a series of tragic missteps and intrusions allows the unseen predator to continue its gruesome work. The narrative builds toward an inevitable reckoning as the characters realize they are fighting an ancient, undead evil that has migrated from the remote wilds of Eastern Europe to the heart of modern civilization, threatening everything and everyone they hold dear.
