Sergeant Howie is sent to investigate a reported missing girl on the remote Scottish island of Summerisle. He finds the island's pagan inhabitants to be strange and unhelpful in his investigation. Howie eventually learns from Lord Summerisle that the islanders follow different beliefs and rules. Their crops failed the year before, so they want to sacrifice Howie to their sun gods to ensure future prosperity. Howie realizes he has been lured to the island as the sacrifice under the guise of a missing person's case. In the climax, Howie is burned alive inside the Wicker Man statue.