佛教大学的学生清水四郎（天知茂 饰）与矢岛教授（中村虎彦 饰）的女儿幸子（三ツ矢歌子 饰）相恋，已经到了谈婚论家的阶段。但是清水最近经常受到同学田村（沼田曜一 饰）的打扰和纠缠，后者就像来自地狱的魔鬼，反复试图放大清水灵魂中阴暗面。在某晚开车返家途中，清水轧死一名醉汉，心怀愧疚的他决定自首，却间接害死幸子，幸子的母亲芙美（宮田文子 饰）也因而精神错乱。一连串的打击让清水无法承受，他逃回父母的家中，与父亲一同打理养老院“天上园”。就在“天上园”十周年庆典上，在座宾朋全部中毒身亡。清水的魂魄来到阴曹，见到了最恐怖的地狱景象……
本片是中川信夫在新东宝拍摄的最后一部怪奇电影，也是大藏贡最后一次担当中川导演制作人的影片。

Between the seventh and ninth centuries, the Chinese mind became preoccupied with a concept of the afterlife that persists into modern times. To be reborn, the deceased must successfully negotiate passage through ten courts of law, each ruled by a magistrate or king. The pains of transition from death to rebirth can be alleviated by the intercession of the living with contributions to the Buddhist church and bribes of spirit money. The cosmology, morality, and rituals of the ten kings are described for the first time in surviving sources in an illustrated text, The Scripture on the Ten Kings, which is here translated for the first time.