 A psychopath known as Buffalo Bill is kidnapping and murdering young women across the midwest. Believing it takes one to know one, the F.B.I. sends Agent Clarice Starling (Foster) to interview a demented prisoner who may provide psychological insight and clues to the killer s actions. The prisoner is psychiatrist, Dr. Hannibal Lector (Hopkins), a brilliant, murderous cannibal who will only help Starling if she feeds his morbid curiosity with details about her own complicated life. This twisted relationship forces Starling not only to confront her psychological demons, but leads her to face with a demented, heinous killer, an incarceration of evil so powerful, that she may not have the courage -- or strength -- to stop him!