After Barbara and Adam Maitland are killed in a car crash, they find themselves trapped as ghosts in their beautiful New England farmhouse. Their peaceful 'existence' is disrupted when a yuppie family, the Deetz's, buy their house. The Maitlands are too nice and harmless as ghosts and all their efforts to scare the Deetz's away are unsuccessful. They decide to call to Beetlejuice, a people-exorcizing ghost, for help.