故事发生在17世纪的法国。著名的园林设计师安德烈（马提亚斯·修奈尔茨 Matthias Schoenaerts 饰）在女园艺师萨宾娜（凯特·温丝莱特 Kate Winslet 饰）的身上看到了国人的天赋，于是决定举荐她，负责替路易十四（艾伦·里克曼 Alan Rickman 饰）翻修凡尔赛宫的宏伟项目。
　　在当时，女园艺师是一个备受歧视的职业，然而萨宾娜并不管旁人异样的目光，而是用自己出色的作品堵上了他们的嘴巴。在此过程中，路易十四爱上了聪慧机灵的萨宾娜，可是萨宾娜真正喜欢的，却是已经有了妻室的安德烈。很快，萨宾娜的爱慕之情便曝光了，她遭到了无数的道德谴责，不仅如此，安德烈的妻子勒诺特尔夫人（海伦·麦克洛瑞 Helen McCrory 饰）还发誓要向她复仇。

　　艺术学院学生本（肖恩•比格斯代夫 Sean Biggerstaff 饰 ）在被女友苏芝甩了之后，夜夜无法入睡。在经历了两周的不眠之夜后，本决定到超市去上夜班以打发这额外的8小时。
　　在超市上夜班，本遇到了形形色色的人，包括喜欢恶搞的同事巴里和马特、超级迷恋中国功夫的布莱恩，还有收银员莎伦（艾米丽雅•福克斯 Emilia Fox 饰）。在这里，本发现了自己有能停止时间的能力。他一次次在上夜班时停止时间，用自己的画笔去描绘各式女子。
　　不知不觉间，本发现自己喜欢上了莎伦，并且不再失眠。就在本准备展开爱情攻势的时候，误会一个个接踵而至，本又开始失眠了。

　　The moon rises at a predestined angle and awakens the sleeping Dr. Phibes in 1928, three years after the events of the previous movie. To his dismay, he finds that his house has been demolished and his papyrus scrolls stolen, the scrolls he needs to find the Pharaoh's Tomb in Egypt, where the River of Life flows. After identifying the source of the papyrus theft, he packs and leaves for Egypt with his assistant Vulnavia - whose face displays no effects from the acid shower she received at the end of the previous film (although the character is now played by a different actress, Valli Kemp). His primary goal is the awakening of his dead wife, Victoria.
　　The thieves of Phibes' scrolls suffer an attrition problem as Inspectors Trout and Waverly chase Phibes across the world. The party is led by Beiderbeck (Robert Quarry, best known for playing Count Yorga). Although he looks young, he is several hundred years old and wants to find the River of Life in order to stay alive and be with his lover Diana (Fiona Lewis) forever. This time Phibes' murders all have an Egyptian theme to them; for example, one character is sand-blasted to death. Other deaths include someone being stung to death by scorpions, being eaten by an eagle (in the original script impaled by a gold eagle in the same way a doctor in The Abominable Dr. Phibes was impaled by a golden unicorn), and a golden snake piercing someone's skull.
　　At the climax, Beiderbeck sacrifices his life in order to save Diana. The film ends with Phibes riding a raft down the River of Life with Victoria, while singing "Over the Rainbow" (which is strange, as this film is set in 1928 but "Over The Rainbow" wasn't written until 1938). It is left ambiguous whether Victoria is resurrected or not, although a picture inside the DVD shows her in the raft with her eyes open and smiling at the camera

　　Based on the novel by L. P. Hartley, The Hireling is a dissection of antiquated but hardly dormant British class distinctions. Chauffeur Robert Shaw is in the employ of aristocratic widow Sarah Miles. When she suffers a nervous breakdown, Shaw helps her through her recovery. They grow to love each other during the convalescence; but when she is cured, Ms. Miles refuses to regard Shaw as an equal, and the original status quo is reinstated. The Hireling provides an interesting contrast to the similarly structured American film of 1991, Driving Miss Daisy.