Horace Carpetine does not believe in ghosts. Raised to believe in science and reason, Horace Carpetine passes off spirits as superstition. Then he becomes an apprentice photographer and discovers an eerie and even dangerous supernatural power in his very own photographs. When a wealthy lady orders a portrait to place by her daughter's gravesite, Horace's employer, Enoch Middleditch, schemes to sell her more pictures by convincing her that her daughter's ghost has appeared in the ones he's already taken. It's Horace's job to create images of the girl. Yet Horace somehow captures the girl's spirit along with her likeness.