Helen (Virginia Madsen), an academic writing a book on a mythical killer known as the Candyman, decides to visit a run-down housing project where the legend is still very much part of the residents' lives. As she questions the locals about their beliefs, she hears stories of how the Candyman will apparently be summoned into corporeal existence if anyone speaks his name five times in a row. This proves too much of a temptation for the ever-curious Helen, who says the names and thereby unleashes a murderous force more powerful and more real than she ever expected.