A varied group of passengers heading through Cornwall by rail find themselves stranded at a remote junction station overnight, their delayed train having missed the final connection of the day to complete their onward journey. Amongst them is a blonde beauty, Jackie, and her retired sportsman partner, R.G.; comedian Tommy Gander; a heavy-drinking doctor; an elderly woman visiting relatives; and a couple due to be married the next day.

Horrified at the realisation the next train is more than nine hours away, the group seek a little comfort inside the station building, but the station master is soon trying to hurry them out so he can lock up for the night. Initially only too happy to find more becoming lodgings, they baulk at the discovery that the nearest village is some four miles away - and, typically, a storm has just set in, with howling winds and lashing rain.

Refusing to budge, the master gives them one last thought of warning before he departs: tale of a ghost train and the station's haunting. For some forty-three years ago an express hurtled through down the line, only to meet its watery doom at a nearby swing-bridge, left open when the man who was supposed to close it collapsed and died before completing his crucial task.

And it just so happens that the fearsome disaster happened on that very night...