Jack Nicholson and his family have decided to look after a secluded large hotel in Denver. It closes down from May to October because the winters are too bad for people to stay there. What a perfect setting for a horror film, a large supposedly "haunted" hotel that's thousands of miles from civilization.

The hotel slowly begins to take hold of Nicholson's mind. He begins to get disturbed early in the film and the hotel drives him to total madness near the end, where he decides he wants to kill his wife and son. His son, who has spiritual powers, sees the hotel is a bad place right from the start.