The film begins with Miho and Ryuzo, two adulterous lovers, being hunted down by Miho's husband. Ryuzo is killed while the pregnant Miho is bludgeoned and left for dead. As she dies, she gives birth to her daughter, Aki, who is thus considered to have been born in hell.

Twenty years later, Aki, who is the very image of her mother, has become a daredevil racing car driver. She feels that strange forces are trying to kill her. To solve the mystery of her past she returns to the remote village where her mother died and to the dysfunctional family that refused to take care of Aki when she was a baby. Aki's arrival triggers a series of disastrous events as she tries to take revenge for the murder of her mother.

Inspired by the famous 1960 film JIGOKU, THE INFERNO shows the hell of Aki's life in this world but then takes us on an astonishing trip into the beyond, where the film visualizes the hideous punishments and bizarre monsters that await the unfortunate souls condemned for eternity to THE INFERNO.

Director Tatsumi Kumashiro, formerly one of the mainstays of Nikkatsu Studio's sexually charged "roman porno" series, here delivers one of the masterpieces of 1970s Japanese cinema.