On his drive home from a conference, a noted novelist (Tom Berenger) spontaneously buys a creepy painting at a yard sale. When the artwork begins to transform and become more menacing, he realizes he must destroy it before it kills him.

After he's paralyzed from a snake bite, a vacationing businessman (Richard Thomas) is mistakenly declared dead and taken to the autopsy room. Completely conscious but unable to move or speak, he bears witness to his own autopsy, performed by a female doctor (Greta Scacchi) and her student.