In the tiny village of Salem in the seventeenth century, John Proctor (Daniel Day-Lewis) gets caught up in a brief affair with Abigail Williams (Winona Ryder). Because they live in a strict Puritanical society, John quickly repents of his sin and turns back to his wife Elizabeth (Joan Allen). But out of revenge, Abigail stirs up the other young women to accuse Elizabeth of being a witch. Judge Thomas Danforth (Paul Scofield) must discern who is telling the truth because witchcraft is punishable by death. Not wanting to see his wife killed, John does everything in his power to refute the false claims that his wife is a witch, but because he does not confess the root of the accusation his affair he only makes matters worse.