A tragic accident when a bus hit a high power line has claimed the lives of all of the passengers on board, except for gentle Dan McCormick (Lon Chaney Jr.), who survived the accident because he was virtually immune to electricity. McCormick, who does a sideshow exhibit as Dynamo Dan, the Electric Man is taken in by good Dr. John Lawrence (Samuel S. Hinds), who wants to study him. However his colleague, mad scientist Dr. Paul Rigas (Lionel Atwill) wants to create an army of electrobiologically-driven zombies. He gives McCormick progressively higher doses of electricity until his mind is ruined, and he is addicted to the charge. This temporarily gives McCormick the touch of death, making him capable of killing anyone he touched by electrocution. After accidentally killing Lawrence, Rigas insures McCormick's conviction to see what will happen if he is sent to the electric chair. McCormick survives, and with a super charge in his glowing body he kills several people, including Rigas, before running out of electricity and dying.