chunk: In 1954 New England, six strangers are invited to a party at a secluded New England mansion known as Hill House. After being met at the door by the butler Wadsworth, the guests are reminded that they have been given a pseudonym to protect their true identity and asks that they only use that name with the other guests. During dinner, Wadsworth admits a seventh attendee, Mr. Boddy, and announces that each of the guests is being blackmailed:
  Professor Plum is a former professor of psychiatry and current member of the World Health Organization whose medical license was revoked because he had an affair with one of his female patients.
  Mrs. Peacock is the wife of a U.S Senator who has been accused of accepting bribes to deliver her husband's vote and claims she must pay their blackmailer to avoid a political witch hunt.
  Miss Scarlet is the owner of an illegal escort service in Washington, D.C..