Pet Sematary Summary: Plot, Characters and Ending
Pet Sematary follows Louis Creed, a doctor who moves with his family to rural Maine. Behind their house is a cemetery where children bury their pets, and beyond it an ancient burial ground that brings the dead back, but not as they were. When tragedy strikes his family, Louis cannot resist using it.
Stephen King has called it the book that frightened him most.
| Character | Who they are |
|---|---|
| Louis Creed | Doctor at the local university |
| Rachel Creed | His wife, haunted by her sister's death |
| Ellie Creed | Their young daughter |
| Gage Creed | Their toddler son |
| Jud Crandall | Elderly neighbor across the road |
| Victor Pascow | Dying student who warns Louis |
| The family cat | Ellie's beloved pet |
How does the story begin?
The Creeds move into a house beside a road where huge trucks thunder past. Their friendly old neighbor Jud shows them a path into the woods leading to a pet cemetery made by local children. On Louis's first day at work, a student, Victor Pascow, is brought in dying after being hit by a car. He speaks to Louis by name and later appears to him in a dream, warning him not to go beyond the cemetery.
↑ Back to the topWhat happens to the cat?
While Rachel and the children are away, Ellie's cat is killed on the road. Fearing Ellie's grief, Jud leads Louis past the deadfall beyond the pet cemetery to an old burial ground once used by the Micmac people, and Louis buries the cat there. The next day it comes home, alive but strange, smelling of earth and cruelly killing birds and mice.
↑ Back to the topWhat happens to Gage?
Jud warns Louis that what was buried there comes back wrong, and tells of a local man who did the same with his son, with terrible results. Then two-year-old Gage runs into the road and is killed by a truck. Mad with grief, Louis cannot stop thinking about the burial ground.
↑ Back to the topWhat does Louis do?
Louis sends his family away, digs up Gage's body from the town cemetery and buries him in the burial ground. Rachel, warned by Ellie's dreams and by Pascow, rushes home. Gage returns, cold and evil, and kills Jud and then Rachel with a scalpel from Louis's bag.
↑ Back to the topHow does Pet Sematary end?
Louis kills the cat and Gage with lethal injections and sets fire to Jud's house. Then, refusing to learn the lesson, he carries Rachel's body to the burial ground, believing it will work if he moves fast enough. In the final scene Louis sits alone at his kitchen table, playing solitaire. Behind him he hears footsteps, and a cold hand falls on his shoulder, as a voice that sounds full of earth speaks his name.
↑ Back to the topMore about Pet Sematary
This summary reveals the whole plot, including the ending.