"Norman was not convicted of murder. He was found not guilty by reasons of

            insanity, and since he is no longer insane, he has the right to live a  

                           normal life like you and I."

When Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) is released from the mental institution because of being found of sound mind, Lila Loomis (Vera Miles) vehemently protests this and vows to see him returned there to pay for his crimes. Norman is then taken to his old home, the Bates Motel and that house behind it on the hill, by his Doctor, who informs him that it will be alright and that Norman is to report to work at a diner down the road later that day. He is also introduced to the new "manager" of the motel, Warren Toomey. Norman reports to the diner and starts his job as a cook/dishwasher. He meets his new coworkers, who include a grouchy woman named Myrna, Mrs. Emma Spool, a kindly old woman, and Mary, a young waitress who's less then stellar at her job. Mary claims she has been thrown out of her boyfriend's place and needs a temporary place to stay. Norman offers to let her stay at the motel, but extends his offer to his home when he discovers the motel is now a sleazy hookup location run by the equally sleazy Mr. Toomey.

Just when it seems that Norman's life is going along great, "Mother" starts to make herself known in a lot of ways: Norman gets mysterious notes from "Mother" both at the house and at the diner. Phone calls come to the house from someone claiming to be Norman's mother. After Norman fires Mr. Toomey, Toomey picks a fight in public with Norman at the diner. Later, a figure in a black dress shows up and murders Toomey with a knife at the motel as he packs to leave. The murder goes unnoticed by anybody.

Norman begins to doubt his own sanity again when he hears voices in the house and enters the room that used to belong to his mother, only to find that it looks exactly as it did 22 years ago. A sound lures him into the attic, where he is locked in by some unseen person. While he is up there, another murder happens in the basement of the house: two teenagers sneak into the basement to smoke pot and make out, but suddenly the figure in the black dress appears and knifes the boy to death. The girl escapes and later returns with the sheriff. In the meantime, Mary finds Norman sleeping in the attic, but the door is unlocked. The sheriff rings the doorbell and questions Norman and Mary about the alleged murder. The sheriff investigates the fruit cellar, but finds it suspiciously neat and orderly. Norman is confused and wants to admit that something suspicious is going on, but Mary interjects and claims that she has cleaned up the basement herself. All the evidence suggests that Norman is back to his old ways, but Mary is insistent. "It couldn't have been you, you're not like that anymore." Later, Mary is startled when she discovers someone looking at her through a peephole in the bathroom wall....its got to be Norman....

It transpires however that Mary and her mother have been behind the ruse...and it isn't long before the Doc is telling Norman just what's been going on....and when Mary's mother vows to continue and makes one last thrust to push Norman over the edge she is savaged by a  butchers knife....and as the bodies pile up, and phone calls from Norman's mother continue, Mary panics and asks Norman to run away with her...yet things don't go to plan and before we know it further bodies are discovered and a number of deaths take place.....

At the police station, the sheriff puts together a fairly inaccurate account of the what we know has happened. Both women were trying to get Norman to go crazy so he could be put away again, but they fell out. The bartender states that Mary told Lila to stay away or she would be sorry. This statement allows the police to view Lila Loomis's death as a murder done by Mary and that all the other murders were done by her as well. The sheriff laments "If you'd seen Mary Loomis at the end, you'd understand. She'd gone mad, even dressed up like Norman's mother. And right up until the end, she was saying Norman was the one who's crazy!"

The movie then goes on to its final twist. It is night and a woman walks up the steps to the Bates's home. Norman has boiled water and set a place for a meal when there is a knock; he answers the door to find Emma Spool, from the diner. Mrs. Spool sits at the table and Norman gives her a cup of poison tea. She tells him that she is his real mother and that Norma Bates was her sister and his aunt. "I was too young to have a baby, besides I had problems of my own," she tells him, alluding to the fact that she as well was institutionalized. "You had already been put away by the time I got out. So I decided to wait for you." She reveals that she's the one who has been killing anybody who would make trouble for her son. As she sips the poison tea, she begins to gag. Norman suddenly kills her with a blow to the head with a shovel. As she lays dying Norman closes the curtains to the kitchen and then picks up her body and carries her upstairs to his room. We hear the familiar voice of Mother, warning Norman not to go messing with "filthy girls" again. Things are finally back to normal at the Bates Motel

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