It's the early 19th century and Edinburgh has become the epicentre for medical research. As renowned medics Dr Knox (Tom Wilkinson) and Dr Monro (Tim Curry) battle to be the toast of the scientific community, the latter takes the lead when he gets a law passed that gives him the rights to all the corpses created by capital punishment.
As Knox's research flounders, dastardly duo William Burke (Simon Pegg) and William Hare (Andy Serkis) hit upon the money-spinning idea of supplying the morally dodgy medic with fresh cadavers, bumping off the good people of the Scottish capital and making a killing in the process. When the law gets wind of their ghoulish enterprise, however, there are grave consequences.