In "Dark Shadows: The Salem Branch", Barnabas Collins, the vampire hero of the series, has recently become a human again through the efforts of his devoted descendent Dr. Julia Hoffman. He is living in current day Collinsport, Maine, trying to adjust to normal life. Although engaged to marry Dr. Hoffman, Barnabas falls in love with a mysterious woman named Antoinette who has bought the ruins of "the old house" on the Collins estate and is restoring it while living with a band of hippies in the woods. Antoinette settled in the area because her daughter is being treated in a nearby mental hospital. Her daughter suffers from flashbacks of her previous incarnation as Miranda du Val, who was burned as a witch in the Salem witch trials. One of the judges who condemned her to death was a Collins-Barnabas's ancestor. Barnabas is desperate to win Antoinette's love - and to protect her and her daughter from the new vampire that he suspects is attacking the inhabitants of Collinsport.