Two romantic couples, consisting of four teenagers, decide to spend a weekend together located in a remote cabin found in the woods. An unseen force stalks and watches the group without their knowledge. Ellen and her boyfriend Bruce enter the woods to have a picnic lunch. The other couple, Scotty and Shelly, remain at the cabin playing Monopoly (game) to pass time. During their lunch, Bruce announces to Ellen that they're camping on an Mound builder (people). Ellen is concerned, but Bruce assures her that they will be fine as long as they don't disturb the graves of the dead. Bruce then explores the area and discovers an ancient dagger belonging to the Indians. Ignoring his own advice, he takes the dagger with him.
Five Michigan State University students—Ash Williams, his girlfriend, Linda; Ash's sister, Cheryl; their friend Scott; and his girlfriend Shelly—are vacationing at an isolated cabin in rural Tennessee. On their first night there, Cheryl hears a faint, demonic voice telling her to "join us" just before her hand becomes possessed and draws a picture of a book with a deformed face on its cover. Shaken and confused, she decides not to mention the incident to the others.
The lone survivor of an onslaught of flesh-possessing spirits holes up in a cabin with a group of strangers while the demons continue their attack.
After being transported to the Middle Ages, Ash Williams is captured by King Arthur's men, who suspect him of being an agent for Duke Henry with whom Arthur is at war. He is enslaved along with the captured Henry, his gun and chainsaw are confiscated, and he is taken to a castle. Ash is thrown in a pit where he kills a Deadite and regains his weapons from Arthur's Wise Man. After demanding that Henry and his men be set free, as he knew it was a Witch-hunt, and killing a Deadite publicly, Ash is celebrated as a hero. He grows attracted to Sheila, the sister of one of Arthur's fallen knights.
Ash has spent the last thirty years avoiding responsibility, maturity, and the terrors of the Evil Dead until a Deadite plague threatens to destroy all of mankind and Ash becomes mankind's only hope.