A man is taken from a cart and taunts the police and the priest escorting him to the guillotine, where he is to be executed for murder. The man spots his son, Hans, in a nearby copse and begs that he should not see him die. Despite the priest's attempts to shoo him away, Hans watches as his father is positioned under the blade. He yells, "Papa!" Then the blade falls, and Hans flees.
Years later, Hans Werner (Robert Morris) is working as an assistant to Baron Victor Frankenstein (Peter Cushing). The Baron, with the help of Dr Hertz (Thorley Walters), is in the process of discovering a way of trapping the soul of a recently deceased person. Frankenstein believes he can transfer that soul into another recently deceased body to restore it to life.
Hans is also the lover of Christina (Susan Denberg), daughter of innkeeper Kleve. Christina's entire left side is disfigured and partly paralysed. Young dandies Anton (Peter Blythe), Johann (Derek Fowlds) and Karl (Barry Warren) frequent Kleve's inn yet refuse to pay. Johann threatens to have his father revoke Kleve's license if he complains. The three insist that they be served by Christina and mock her for her deformities. The taunting angers Hans, who fights the three of them and cuts Anton's face with a knife.
Eventually Kleve throws the dandies out. They return in the night to steal wine from his inn, and when Kleve catches them they beat him to death. Hans, the son of a murderer known for his short temper, is convicted. Despite the Baron and Hertz's defences against the accusations, Hans is executed by the guillotine. Seeing this as an opportunity, Frankenstein gets hold of Hans' fresh corpse and traps his soul.
Distraught over Hans's death, Christina drowns herself. The peasants bring her body to Dr Hertz to see if he can do anything. Frankenstein and Hertz transfer Hans' soul into her body. Over months of complex and intensive treatment, they cure her physical deformities. The result is a physically healthy woman with no memory. Frankenstein insists on telling her nothing but her name and keeping her in Hertz's house. Despite coming to her senses regarding her identity, Christina is taken over by the spirit of the vengeful Hans.
She kills Anton and Karl driven mostly by the ghostly insistence of Hans. Frankenstein and Hertz become rather suspicious of her behaviour surrounding the killings and take her to where Hans was executed. However, they believe she subconsciously retains her memories of her father's death rather than of Hans. By the time Frankenstein realises the truth, he finds her already murdering Johann. Upon holding the severed head of Hans, the ghostly voice tells Christina she has avenged his death. Despite the Baron's pleas, the horrified Christina knows she now has no one and nothing left to live for, and so drowns herself again. A rueful Frankenstein walks silently away with Hertz.
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