Dennis Skinner (Ted Raimi) seems like a normal enough guy, but he has a very abnormal hobby -- at night, he creeps through the back streets looking for potential victims, and when he finds one, he carefully removes their skin with an elaborate collection of knives. Heidi (Traci Lords), one of Dennis' victims, is on his trail, waiting for a chance to get her revenge, but in the meantime Dennis has developed a crush on Kerry (Ricki Lake), and wants to find a way to show her he really cares.