A country family of five takes in cousin Julia, whose parents recently perished in a car crash. Julia extends her influence over the family and those around them, fooling all except for Rachel, the teenaged girl who knows her cousin is up to no good. This TV horror movie had the title "Stranger in Our House" when it was originally released by NBC on Halloween night in 1978. When released on VHS in the late 1980s, the title was changed to "Summer of Fear", which is the title of the Lois Duncan book on which it is based.