English
The story opens with Ben Mears (Rob Lowe) attacking the priest, Donald Callahan (James Cromwell) in a homeless shelter. They fall together from a high window into the street. In the hospital, Ben Mears tells his story and the reasons behind his fight with the priest. This takes the form of a flashback in which the miniseries' central plot unfolds.
In the flashback, Ben is a successful writer. He returns to his hometown, Jerusalem's Lot (also known as 'Salem's Lot), intending to write a novel while he deals with the demons of his past. He tells Susan Norton (a waitress and former art student whom he has befriended), that as a child he accepted a dare to enter the house of Hubie Marsden. Local legend said that there was something wrong with the house and/or its owner, suggesting that he tortured and murdered children. That night in the house, Ben overheard something horrible — including Hubie begging for his life before committing suicide. Ben believes that he also heard Hubie Marsden's last victim crying for help, but Ben was too afraid to find or help him and fled. Ben plans to rent and investigate the house to bring catharsis to himself and to gather material for his novel, but he discovers that the owner, Larry Crockett (Grubb), has sold it to a pair of antique dealers, Richard Straker (Donald Sutherland) and Kurt Barlow (Rutger Hauer).
Shortly thereafter, the dark secrets of the town's residents begin to emerge. Crockett is sexually abusing his daughter Ruthie (McNamee). When she spends time with a cripple named Dud (Cowell) whom Crockett employs, Crockett fires him. Evie (Blake), who runs the boarding house where Ben stays, played evil games with Hughie Marsden when they were teenagers. The school bus driver is a bully who loves to torment the children he transports, forcing those he doesn't like to walk home. These painful revelations increase in frequency and magnitude up until the arrival of the mysterious Barlow. Barlow, a master vampire, is influencing some of these occurrences as a prelude to "recruiting" more vampires to serve him. A child vanishes, and his brother then sickens and dies. Laborer Mike Ryerson (Morris) buries the boy, then also gets sick and dies. He returns from the grave (complete with autopsy scars) to tempt high school teacher Matt Burke (Andre Braugher), who is rescued but suffers a heart attack. Ben is persuaded by the mounting evidence that the town is plagued by vampirism. He and his allies, Dr. Cody (Robert Mammone), Father Callahan and Mark Petrie (Byrd) begin acting as vampire hunters, although they balk upon finding that Susan Norton has become a victim. Ben insists upon targeting Barlow in the hopes that Barlow's victims might be restored upon his destruction.
The characters face their own psychological demons as the physical demons surround them. Father Callahan, trying to confront Barlow by himself, finds his faith is not strong enough. Callahan is forced to drink Barlow's blood, turning Callahan into Barlow's servant. Larry Crockett, who invited the vampire into town, sees his daughter willingly join the vampiric Dud in the night. Most of all, Ben still wrestles with his own guilt and personal failures.
Cody and Burke are killed. Mark Petrie and Ben manage to destroy Barlow, but not before he taunts Ben. Barlow likens Ben to himself, describing him as another parasite who preys on the tragedies of others.
Ben's hypothesis is disproven: though Barlow is destroyed, Susan is still a vampire. She tells him that the boy he failed to rescue all those years ago was already dead when Marsden died, and Ben was never to blame. When Susan turns to attack Mark, Ben is forced to destroy her.
Ben concludes his flashback. The nurse is deeply moved and frightened by the story. He realizes Ben wasn't acting alone. When he leaves to assist with Father Callahan (who has died), Mark slips into Ben's room to tell him it is over. The Nurse sees Mark, realizes what has happened, but lets him go.In his hospital room, Ben passes away, feeling at peace.
Italiano
Salem's Lot è una miniserie televisiva in due parti trasmessa dall'emittente TNT, e tratta dal romanzo Le notti di Salem di Stephen King.
La miniserie è il rifacimento della miniserie del 1979 Le notti di Salem.
In Italia la miniserie è stata trasmessa prima sul canale satellitare fox vedibile dal bouquet sky e poi in un'unica puntata, da Italia 1 nella notte tra il 13 e il 14 settembre 2008 alle ore 2.45.