Former teacher and recovering alcoholic Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) interviews for a caretaker job at the Overlook Hotel in an effort to rebuild his life after his volatile temper lost him his teaching position. The hotel manager, Mr. Stuart Ullman (Barry Nelson), warns Jack that he and his family will be snowbound through most of the winter and of the potential risk for cabin fever. He drives the point home by recounting a season when the caretaker, Charles Grady, went crazy and brutaly killed his wife, his two girls (Lisa Burns and Louise Burns), and finally himself. Given his own desperation and the opportunity to pursue his true passion, writing, Jack acknowledges the warning, but accepts the job.
Meanwhile, Jack's son Danny (Danny Lloyd) has a seizure while talking to his imaginary friend Tony about the Overlook Hotel. He has a vision of blood splashing out of an elevator in the hotel, an image which is revisited several times throughout the film.
Upon Danny's arrival at the hotel, head chef Dick Hallorann (Scatman Crothers) recognizes that Danny is telepathic, and speaks to him mentally to offer him some ice cream. He explains that he and his grandmother both had the gift; she referred to this communication as "shining." He also counsels Danny about the hotel, hinting that something terrible had happened there and left a trace, "as if someone burned toast," which only people who can "shine" will perceive. Danny questions Dick about what went on in the hotel, and about Room 237 in particular as Danny can sense that Dick is especially afraid of that room. Though he strives to assure Danny that the images he sees in the hotel are just "like pictures in a book" and can't hurt him, Dick sternly warns Danny to stay out of that room.
Jack's mental health deteriorates rapidly once the family is alone in the hotel. He has writer's block, sleeps too little, and is irritable. Danny has visions of the two murdered Grady girls, but tells no one. He continues to wonder about Room 237.
While the weather is still relatively warm, Jack's wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall) and Danny walk through a maze of tall hedges, making a game out of it, stopping at dead ends and fixing their mistakes.
One day, a ball rolls toward Danny as he plays with his toys. It appears to have come from the open door of Room 237, which Danny enters. At that moment, Wendy comes running from the basement at the sound of Jack's screams in the lounge. He tells her that he had a nightmare in which he used an axe to chop Danny and her to pieces. As a disconcerted Wendy promises that "Everything's gonna be okay," Danny appears at the other end of the room, looking disoriented and sucking his thumb. His sweater is ripped and there are bruises on his neck. He does not answer when Wendy asks what happened. She angrily accuses Jack of hurting Danny and takes the child back to their suite.
Jack is furious about the accusation. He storms around the hotel, making his way to the Gold Ballroom. Sinking defeatedly onto a stool at an empty bar, his head in his hands, Jack declares that he would sell his soul for one drink. When he looks up he discovers a bartender (Joe Turkel), who serves him a drink. Jack is nonplussed by the sudden appearance of the bartender and even addresses him by his name, Lloyd. In the course of telling his troubles to Lloyd, Jack reveals that he unintentionally dislocated Danny's shoulder, the same accident Wendy mentioned to Danny's pediatrician earlier. Notably, Jack states that the injury happened three years ago, while in explaining the same story to the pediatrician, Wendy said that Jack, who vowed to quit drinking immediately following the accident, has currently been sober for only five months.
A frantic Wendy enters, finding Jack seemingly alone at the bar; she pleads with him to investigate Danny's claim that "a crazy woman" attacked him in the bathtub of Room 237. Jack, who acts a bit tipsy, grudgingly agrees to go have a look.
As Jack approaches the door to Room 237, Danny appears to be having a seizure in his own room. Dick, back at his home in Florida, stares wide-eyed as he picks up on a signal Danny is sending.
Jack cautiously enters Room 237. The bedroom is empty and he proceeds to the bathroom. He watches lustfully as a young, beautiful, naked woman (Lia Beldam) pulls back the shower curtain and steps slowly out of the bathtub. The two approach each other and embrace in a passionate kiss. Jack catches a glimpse of their reflection in the mirror and sees the woman is actually a rotting corpse. He recoils in horror-- the young lady standing before him has transformed into an elderly woman (Billie Gibson); a walking corpse with rotten, sagging skin. She cackles madly while reaching for him with outstretched arms. Stunned, Jack staggers out of the room, locking the door after him.
When he reports back to Wendy, Jack denies anything amiss in Room 237. Wendy suggests they take Danny to a doctor. Jack becomes irate, le