When bodies start turning up with their eyes gouged out, Matthius, a wealthy toy maker, fears someone in his family may have been passed the ancestral curse, a paranoia in which the victim is obsessed by the fear that everyone is looking at him--and must be stopped. He invites his remaining heirs in the family mansion, Moorhange, to eliminate it once and for all. The family has been making ingenious and deadly toys for centures, by appointment to kings and maharajahs for their amusement when dealing with their enemies. One such toy, a Dancing Sheik, literally dances its victim to death. Toy cannons and knights in shining armor are as deadly as the real thing. Only Mathius knows how to handle the toys, and the secret will die with him. But first he must be certain none of his heirs will pass on the curse. One by one, the toys are unleashed and one by one, the bloodline is destroyed. Who will survive to carry on?