The Midsomer Langley Film Society shows a retrospective of horror films made by local actress Stella Harris but Stella is upstaged when glamorous movie star Diana Davenport,her sister,returns to the area for the first time in forty years with film producer husband Cy. The same night Eve Lomax,a writer working on a book about Stella,is murdered,her neck punctured as if by a vampire.Eve was not popular with Stella or film society president Colin Yule,who claims Eve stole a photo of Stella. Stella's daughter Emma tells Barnaby that Eve's landlord,the married Patrick,was sexually harassing her whilst Patrick claims Eve had a secret lover. Then there are two further slayings,both in the manner of murders from Stella's films. Could they be connected to a family secret from over forty years ago,linking death and the divas?