Lilliana Hoffman dies in a carriage accident in the woods, caused by wolves that attack both the horses and the coachman. Her husband Frederick, at his dying wife's urging, reluctantly performs a caesarean section to save their unborn daughter. Years later, the young Lilli Hoffman, named after her dead mother, plays mischievously on the grounds of the Hoffman estate. Frederick remarries a noble woman named Lady Claudia. Despite Claudia's kindness to her, Lilli is jealous and resentful towards her new stepmother. On the Hoffmans' wedding night, Lilli runs from her nursemaid and hides under Claudia's bed. However the nursemaid is mysteriously killed by an unseen force when she looks into Claudia's mirror.