The serial killer nicknamed ''Buffalo Bill'' has been capturing and starving women, then murdering and skinning them. FBI rookie Clarice Starling is assigned to solicit help from imprisoned psychopath Dr Hannibal ''the Cannibal'' Lecter, whose insight into the depraved minds of serial killers is second to none. But in exchange for inviting her into the darkest chambers of his mind, Hannibal begins to probe at hers, demanding knowledge of her childhood demons as the price of understanding Buffalo Bill''s. Clarice knows how dangerous this man is, and the terrible things he can do with this information. But women are still disappearing, and time is running out...