The Rolf (spelled "Rolfe" in the novel) family, who live in a cramped apartment in Queens, New York, takes a bargain-priced summer-long vacation at a large, shabby, remote Neo-classical architecture 19th-century mansion at the far eastern end of the North Fork of Suffolk County, Long Island. The address is 17 Shore Road. The family consists of housewife Marian (Karen Black), her teacher husband Ben (Oliver Reed), and their 12-year-old son Davey (Lee Montgomery). Ben's elderly Aunt Elizabeth (Bette Davis), who enjoys painting, joins them. The owners of the house are the Allardyce siblings, Arnold and Roz (Burgess Meredith and Eileen Heckart); there is also Walker (Dub Taylor), a caretaker.