The story's protagonist is an Englishman named Wraxall. He travels to Sweden with the intention of writing a guidebook to the country which is to include some interesting incidents from Swedish history. He hears about a large collection of historical documents which belong to a noble family and receives permission to examine them. Wraxall soon becomes fascinated by one long dead member of that noble family, a man named Count Magnus. Count Magnus was an extremely cruel man who had an interest in the occult. Twice, while passing by Count Magnus' tomb, Wraxall expresses a desire to see the Count for himself. When Wraxall expresses the same desire a third time, he soon comes to regret it.