Andy Shaw is a confessed daydreamer. While still a child, he discovers a locked entrance to a tomb belonging to the Hyde family, whose nearby mansion burned down several years earlier. Andy tries to break the lock, but can't. Frustrated, he falls asleep near the grave. Eventually, inspired by his reading of Plutarch's life, Andy decided to wait patiently until it was time to enter the tomb.
One night, many years later, Andy once again falls asleep by the grave. He wakes up suddenly in the late afternoon, and thinks that as soon as he awoke, a light was quickly extinguished inside the grave. Andy then returns to his house, where he goes straight into the attic, a rotten chest, and finds the key to the tomb in it. Once inside the tomb, Andy discovers an empty coffin with the name "Andy" engraved on the plate. He begins to sleep in the empty coffin every night, yet those who see him sleeping see him sleeping outside the grave, not inside as Andy believes. Andy also develops a fear of thunder and fire, and learns that one of his neighbors is spying on him.
Against his better judgment, Andy sets out for the grave at night, accompanied by a storm. He sees that the Hyde Mansion has been restored to its former state; There is a party going on, which he attends, abandons his former sober for blasphemous hedonism. During the party, the mansion is struck by lightning, and it burns down. Andy loses consciousness, imagining that he has been burnt to ashes in the fire. He next finds himself screaming and struggling, with two people present along with his father. Discovered by a recent storm, a small antique box has been discovered. Inside is a porcelain miniature of a man, with the initials "A.H". Andy sees his face as his own mirror image. It is likely that Andy was the reincarnation of Andy Hyde, who came back with his ancestors to be placed in the family tomb, as he was not when his ashes were blown away in all directions.
Andy starts saying that he is sleeping inside the grave. Saddened by his son's mental instability, his father explains that he has been seen for some time and has never been inside the tomb, and that the lock has, in fact, rusted with age. Andy is taken to an asylum, presumed insane. He asks his servant Harry, who has remained loyal to him despite his current condition, to locate the tomb - a request which Harry fulfills. After breaking the lock and descending into the foggy depths with the lantern, Harry returns to his master and informs him that there is, in fact, a coffin with a plate on it written "Andy". Andy then says that he has been promised to be buried in that coffin if he dies.
