Phoenix secretary Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), on the lam after stealing $40,000 from her employer in order to run away with her boyfriend, Sam Loomis (John Gavin), is overcome by exhaustion during a heavy rainstorm. Traveling on the back roads to avoid the police, she stops for the night at the ramshackle Bates Motel and meets the polite but highly strung proprietor Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), a young man with an interest in taxidermy and a difficult relationship with his mother.

Hard-nosed private investigator Harry Moseby (Gene Hackman), to distract himself from a rapidly deteriorating marriage, takes a case from an aging B-movie queen (Janet Ward) to locate her runaway daughter, Delly (Melanie Griffith). His search takes him to the Florida Keys, where the girl has been hiding out with her stepfather, Tom (John Crawford), and Tom's lover, Paula (Jennifer Warren). Harry initiates an affair with Paula and soon learns the case is more complex than he first assessed it.

When the seaside community of Amity finds itself under attack by a dangerous great white shark, the town's chief of police, a young marine biologist, and a grizzled hunter embark on a desperate quest to destroy the beast before it strikes again.

Spain is being torn apart by the Civil War. Abandoned in a grim and isolated orphanage, newcomer Carlos, 12, faces hostility and violence from his fellow inmates - led by tormented Jaime - and the brutal handyman, Jacinto. But the dark cellars and empty cloisters of the orphanage hide far greater terrors. The ghost of a young boy, brutally murdered, appears to Carlos, warning of imminent disaster and threatening terrible vengeance.