Kaiulani Lee

Helen and Jackson live together in New York City. At the beginning of the film, the two are driving towards the Kentucky farmhouse, Kilronan, where Jackson grew up, primarily to introduce Helen to Jackson's mother, Martha (Lange). After returning to New York, Helen discovers she is pregnant. When she informs Jackson of this, he asks her to marry him and she accepts. The wedding is held at Kilronan, where Helen meets Jackson's paternal grandmother, Alice, who tells Helen she doesn't trust Martha. After returning to New York apartment, Helen is assaulted by a man who steals her locket. When Helen says she's pregnant, he cuts her abdomen and leaves. The fetus was not injured. Martha arrives and says she wants to sell Kilronan because she cannot run it alone. Helen tells Jackson she wants to move to Kentucky and in with Martha for a year and help renovate the land. Jackson tells Helen his father died in that house when he was seven and he blames himself because he ran into his father pushing him down the stairs. Jackson also tells Helen that his father had been cheating on Martha with Robin Hayes. Helen says they should go back so Jackson can face his "old ghosts". The couple move in with Martha who attempts to divide the couple. Suspicious, Helen talks to Alice who tells her that Jackson is wrong about his father's death. The father landed on a nail puller at the bottom of the stairs, crushing his sternum, which, according to news reports was a freak accident. Helen tells Jackson that Martha is tearing their marriage apart. He agrees to go back to New York and tells his mother. That evening, Martha bakes a cake for Helen laced with pitocin, a labor inducer. Helen wakes up the next morning, feeling strange. She discovers a baby room set up by Martha and finds the locket that was stolen from her in New York. When Martha unexpectedly enters the room, Helen tries unsuccessfully to escape. Reluctantly, with Martha's assistance, Helen gives birth. Martha leaves the room to answer a phone call from Jackson. She tells him that everything is okay, but when Helen screams in pain, Martha hangs up. Helen begs Martha to hand her the baby, but Martha ignores her, telling the baby she is his mother. Martha tries to inject morphine in Helen's arm, but Helen knocks the syringe away. When Martha retrieves it, she hears Jackson's footsteps. In a scramble, she quickly cleans up, meeting Jackson at the door. She tells him to leave Helen alone, as he has no idea what she's been through. The two leave Helen asleep, with Martha giving the baby to Jackson. That night, Martha enters Helen's bedroom with the syringe. She finds Jackson in a chair next to the bed. Despite his mother's insistence that he return to bed, he stays. The next morning, Helen awakens to see Jackson. She tells Jackson to ask Martha to make breakfast. At breakfast, Helen enters the house with an object in her bag. Helen says that it is the object that killed Jackson's father. She slowly proceeds to tell Jackson the whole truth about his father's murder. She reveals that Robin Hayes, the "woman" Jackson believed his father had cheated on his mother with, was actually a male horse wrangler, with whom Martha had an affair. Helen also shows Jackson a bruise resulting from when his mother tried to murder her so she can have him and their son to herself. Jackson's father was planning to leave Martha when he discovered the affair but Martha ended up killing him. Martha made Jackson think he did so she can bind him to her for the rest of his life. Jackson tells Martha that he never wants to see her again. Martha claims that Helen is only doing this because she is jealous of her. In utter disgust, Helen slaps Martha to the ground. Helen and Jackson then leave with their baby while Martha sobs on the floor. In the final scene, the couple visit Alice before they leave for good, presenting her with her great-grandson.

Donna Trenton (Dee Wallace) is a frustrated housewife whose life is in turmoil after her husband Vic learns about her having an affair. Brett Camber (Billy Jacoby) is a young boy and a son of a mechanic, Joe, (Ed Lauter) whose only companion is a St. Bernard named "Cujo." While chasing a rabbit into a cave, Cujo is bitten by a bat with rabies and his behavior begins to change. While the dog begins to succumb to the disease, Brett and his mother leave for Connecticut to visit his mother's sister, using money from a lottery won by Mrs. Camber. When Donna and her young son, Tad (Danny Pintauro), drive out to the home where Cujo and the Cambers live, in order to fix Donna's car, the once-gentle Cujo, now driven mad by the disease, attack the Cambers' neighbor, Gary Parvier (Mills Watson). Gary engages the dog in a fight and drives it off briefly, retreating to his home. He tries to arm himself with a shotgun, but as he searches for the shells Cujo enters through a back door and attacks him again. A wild struggle follows in the front of Gary's house, and eventually he is overpowered and killed by Cujo. Joe Camber, after heading down to Gary's, looks for Gary but doesn't find him. He does find blood on the porch and goes inside - and discovers Gary's body on the floor, his throat torn open. Joe goes to call the police but Cujo suddenly enters the house, and Joe immediately recognizes that their once-beloved family pet is now rabid - and a dangerous menace. While trying to defend himself, Camber unwittingly backs himself into a corner and Cujo attacks & kills him too. When Donna & Tad reach the Camber house, their Ford Pinto car's alternator dies. They are ambushed by Cujo while still in their vehicle, sending Tad into a panic. Donna and Tad are trapped inside the Pinto while the massive dog waits outside, attacking repeatedly, all while Vic is out of town on a business trip. Donna's repeated attempts to start the car are in vain and the 200-lb St. Bernard charges the car with each attempt. Vic returns home to find his house trashed - the result of vandalism by Steve Kemp (Christopher Stone), the man Donna had the affair with. He calls the Sheriff and tells him that he suspects Kemp is also responsible for the disappearance of Donna and Tad, having called the home repeatedly but gotten no answer. The Sheriff puts an alert out for Kemp's vehicle and Kemp is soon picked up. While he admits to trashing the house, Kemp denies having even seen Donna and Tad. The Sheriff believes him and when informed by Vic that Donna was taking the car to Joe Camber's for repairs, goes out to the Camber house to investigate. The hot sun makes the conditions nearly unbearable, but Donna knows that certain death awaits them outside. Donna decides that she must do something before they both die from either heatstroke or dehydration, but the dog could be anywhere, however, and attempts at escape are foiled by repeated attacks by the mad dog, who tries to get into the car. After speaking to Vic following the break-and-enter, the local Sheriff arrives at the house. As he approaches he is ambushed by Cujo before he can draw his weapon. The gun is knocked from the Sheriff's hand by Cujo and the fight carries on inside the barn. Eventually, the Sheriff, too, is knocked from a catwalk and killed by the massive dog. Donna decides that she must risk going outside to save Tad, but the dog jumps out from underneath the car and bites her in the leg, forcing her back into the car. Eventually, a badly wounded Donna makes an attempt to dash for the house but is attacked by Cujo, the only safety being the car. She spots a baseball bat at the base of a tall tree in the yard, and gets an idea. While Cujo is distracted by a ringing telephone, Donna gets out of the car and retrieves the baseball bat. Cujo turns around on the porch to face her and she challenges him. After a prolonged, brutal struggle between the desperate mother and the relentless animal, Donna takes advantage of a momentary distraction and beats Cujo with a baseball bat several times until the bat breaks off, leaving only a jagged handle. The dog jumps at her, only to land on the broken handle, impaling him. The dog stops moving, apparently dead. Donna pushes the dog off and uses the sheriff's revolver to break open the back window and retrieve Tad, as Cujo had broken all of the handles. Reaching the house, Donna revives her son, who had passed out due to the extreme heat and dehydration. Without warning, Cujo bursts through the kitchen window and uses the last of his strength to try to kill the two. Before he can attack, though, Donna pulls out the Sheriff's pistol and shoots Cujo at point-blank range, killing him instantly. Vic, arriving at the Camber home, sees the Pinto and the Sheriff's car, but no signs of Donna or Tad. Beginning to panic, he calls out for Donna, who joins her husband outside, carrying Tad, and the credits begin to roll.

In New York City, Douglas Breen (Michael Biehn), a record store salesman, types a fan letter to actress Sally Ross (Lauren Bacall). However, Douglas is upset when Sally's secretary, Belle Goldman (Maureen Stapleton), answers the letter and encloses a picture of Sally he already has. In his next letter to "Miss Ross," he chastises her secretary for signing Sally's reply, and ends his note with "All my love." Belle writes to Douglas, apologizing for sending a photograph he already has. Douglas writes back to Sally that her secretary is "snide" and should be punished. Belle reads the letter aloud, but Sally is preoccupied and does not listen. Sally is celebrating her 50th birthday and nervous about starting rehearsals for her first musical. On Sally's birthday, she joins her former husband, director Jake Berman (James Garner), for lunch and learns he has moved back to New York City while working on his new film. Sally asks about his young girl friend, Heidi (Lesley Rogers), and Jake admits they are engaged. Meanwhile, Douglas sets out a romantic dinner for two in his apartment. He is angry when his sister (Kaiulani Lee) arrives and interrupts his dinner with a "famous star." She is worried about his fantasizing, but Douglas shuts the door on her and returns to his make-believe dinner with Sally. Douglas sends another letter, inquiring if Sally has scolded her secretary. He also follows Sally to the rehearsal studio for her new play. His next letter is more personal, containing the salutation "Dear Sally" and the assertion that he and Sally will soon be lovers. Douglas is increasingly irritated with a female co-worker and plans to complain to the record store manager. However, the manager berates Douglas for his work. Douglas writes to Sally that he finally confronted his boss and can now devote all of his time to her. Belle writes back that she will not show his letters to Sally, and if he writes again, she will contact the police. Infuriated, Douglas plans to deliver his next letter personally. He writes that he no longer needs to include his name or address because Sally knows where to find him. He arrives at the rehearsal hall after Sally has left for a break. A production assistant promises to deliver the letter to Sally, and hands it to Belle. Later, Belle shows the letter to Sally and worries that Douglas Breen might be dangerous. Sally insists he is harmless and throws away the letter. That evening, Sally and her friend, David Branum (Kurt Johnson), go to a party that Jake Berman and his fiancee are also attending. Meanwhile, as Belle heads home on the subway, Douglas attacks her while she is walking through the deserted station and slashes her face. Later, Jake joins Sally at the hospital and they wonder why Belle was attacked. As Belle recovers, Sally receives an unsigned love letter from Douglas. He believes Sally is longing for him and admits that he attacked Belle so Sally could answer his letters. Sally and Jake meet with police detective Raphael Andrews (Hector Elizondo), who asks to see the previous correspondence. Sally admits they did not keep the prior letters, and the current note does not include a name or address. Detective Andrews visits Belle in the hospital and reveals that Sally's psychotic fan was her attacker. Belle can only remember that his first name is Douglas. By the time she realized he was not a normal fan, he had already stopped signing his name. Later, Douglas watches Sally leave the rehearsal studio with David Branum, who kisses her goodbye. Douglas follows David to the YMCA swimming pool. As David swims laps, Douglas dives into the pool, slices David with a knife and swims away. He writes to Sally about the incident, and warns he is losing patience with her sadistic refusal to write him. Andrews provides 24 hour police protection for Sally, noting that Douglas will now come after her directly. Douglas continues his stalking and notices Sally's police protection. Soon, the rehearsals move from the studio to the theater. Jake Berman visits Sally in her dressing room and asks why she has not called him recently. She does not want to interfere with his relationship with Heidi, and also does not want to depend on him. Sally cooks dinner for Raphael Andrews and he wants her understudy to do the preview performances, but Sally insists on appearing in them. The next day, the maid is alone in Sally's apartment when Douglas sneaks in and brutally kills her with a straight razor. He leaves a letter for Sally that starts with "Dear Bitch," and threatens to kill her. Andrews asks if Sally wants to call Jake for company, but she refuses. That night, Douglas telephones Sally and says he wants to make love to her. He asks her to speak to him because he does not want to kill her, but Sally hangs up the telephone. She calls Jake, but Heidi picks up the telephone and she does not leave a message. The next morning, the policewoman protecting Sally awakens to find the actress gone, and she realizes Sally drugged her tea the previous evening. As Sally hides at her beach house, television news reports on her disappearance. Douglas goes to a nightclub and picks up a man who resembles him. He offers to have sex with the man, lures him to a secluded spot and murders him. Douglas douses the body with gasoline and sets it on fire. He writes another letter to Sally, claiming he must atone for the pain he caused her, and he tapes the "suicide" note to a wall near the burnt corpse. Later, Jake arrives at Sally's beach house with news of Douglas's death, and they reminisce about their 15 years together. Back in New York City, Belle returns to work as Sally prepares for opening night. Jake brings flowers to Sally's dressing room, and announces he ended his relationship with Heidi and would like to try again with Sally. She accepts his proposal, and then goes on with the show. Douglas slips into the audience during the play, but leaves during the standing ovation after the final curtain. After the show, Jake leaves for the opening night party, but promises to return to pick up Sally after she changes. Almost everyone has left the theater when Douglas slips backstage. He murders Sally's costumer, then kills the stage manager and locks the theater door. Douglas surprises Sally in her dressing room and follows as she runs to the stage to escape him. He catches Sally and finally kisses her. When she struggles to get away, he wants to know why she never answered him. She insists she does not even know him, and when he tries to kiss her again, she calls him "pathetic." He demands she stop angering him and threatens her with a knife. When she continues to berate Douglas, he hugs her and begs her to love him. Sally grabs his knife and stabs her "fan" to death.