| abstract
| - Psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter is visited by FBI agent Will Graham, who is working on a psychological profile of a serial killer called the Chesapeake Ripper. Graham suggests that the killer is a cannibal and asks Lecter what he thinks. The conversation slowly begins to take on a more ominous tone until it becomes clear that Lecter himself is the killer and Graham has figured it out. Lecter becomes enraged that he has been caught and attacks Graham. Graham manages to retrieve an antique spear from the wall and stab Lecter, who is then arrested and incarcerated in a mental institution. Graham, meanwhile, retires from the FBI after becoming traumatized from his near death experience. Three years later, Graham is visited in his Florida home by his former FBI superior, Jack Crawford, who asks for his help on a case. A serial killer dubbed the Tooth Fairy has been murdering random families during sequential full moons. Graham is reluctant to take on the case, but decides to agree to it after promising his wife Molly Graham that he only examine evidence and not risk any physical harm. Graham and Crawford visit the most recent crime scene, where they encounter Freddy Lounds, a sleazy tabloid journalist with whom Graham has a history. After taking a look at the case file, Graham finds that he can't stop the Tooth Fairy alone and decides that he must visit Lecter and consult him on the case. Elsewhere, we are introduced to Francis Dolarhyde, a mentally disturbed man who works at a St. Louis film processing firm, and the true identity of the Tooth Fairy. Dolarhyde is obsessed with the Great Red Dragon paintings of William Blake and kills at the behest of his alternate personality, who he calls the Red Dragon. Each time he kills, he thinks he is brought closer to becoming the Dragon itself. This pathology was born from years of child abuse at the hands of his sadistic grandmother. Graham visits Lecter in his cell at the sanitarium, but has a panic attack after seeing Lecter face to face for the first time in three years. After recovering, he goes back and speaks to Lecter. After a tense conversation, Lecter agrees to look at the case file but tries to gain Graham's home adress. Graham walks out without saying another word. Hoping to coax the Tooth Fairy out, Graham decides to give Lounds an interview in which he insults the killer. Dolarhyde, enraged, waits in the parking garage of the National Tattler Newspaper HQ and stabs Lounds and places his body in the back of his car, which he then sets on fire. At the same time, Graham learns that Lecter obtained his home adress through deceit and uncovers a personal correspondance between Lecter and the killer through the personals section of the National Tattler. Graham races home to find his family unharmed. The FBI then relocates them to a safehouse. Meanwhile, Dolarhyde begins to develop feelings for his blind co-worker Reba McClane and they go out on a date. They later go back to his house and make love. While Reba is sleeping, Dolarhyde goes into the next room and watches a home movie from a family that was submitted to the photo lab. At the safe house, desperate to find a connection between the Tooth Fairy murders and prevent another killing, Graham finally hits something when he sees that the killer could have been casing the victims homes from their home movies. He and Crawford begin to investigate the lead and track the killer to the St. Louis firm. Graham and Crawford question the firm's owner and Graham and Dolarhyde pass each other in the corridor, although Graham does not yet know who Dolarhyde is. Later, Dolarhyde spots Reba leaving work with Ralph Mandy, a co-worker notorious for womanizing, and someone Dolarhyde dislikes. In a blind fit of rage, he follows them and then murders Mandy before abducting Reba and taking her to his home. Simultaneously, Graham obtains the home adress of the employee who worked on the films of the murdered families; Francis Dolarhyde. He then learns about Mandy's murder and races to Dolarhyde's residence. At his home, Dolarhyde is ready to kill Reba and then himself, but can't bring himself to kill her. She tries to run but knocks over a candle, and the house catches fire. Reba escapes onto the front lawn and runs into the arms of Graham. Suddenly, the house explodes, and Dolarhyde is presumed dead. Later, Graham comforts Reba, telling that because of the kindness she showed Dolarhyde several innocent lives were spared. The Graham family move back to their Florida home, while Graham pays Lecter a final visit and punches him in the face for previously giving Dolarhyde. When he arrives home, he is horrified to find Dolarhyde alive, holding his family hostage. The two engage in a final physical and mental showdown, during which Dolarhyde slams Graham's head through a mirror and tries to stab him with a shard. Suddenly, Molly reappears with a gun Graham had previously bought and shoots Dolarhyde. As Dolarhyde tries to crawl away, Graham is overwhelmed with rage and uses the broken piece of glass to slit Dolarhyde's throat. Graham, now permanently retired, is sent a note by Lecter, who congratulates him on embracing his inner darkness. A disgusted Graham tears the note up and then rejoins his family in their home.
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