<P> In 1964, at Briarcliff Mental Institution in Massachusetts, Sister Jude Martin (Jessica Lange) and Sister Mary Eunice McKee (Lily Rabe) maintain the institution that was founded by Monsignor Timothy Howard (Joseph Fiennes) to treat and house the mentally and criminally insane . Psychiatrist Dr. Oliver Thredson (Zachary Quinto), and scientist Dr. Arthur Arden (James Cromwell), treat the patients within the facility, which include lesbian journalist Lana Winters (Sarah Paulson), accused serial killer Kit Walker (Evan Peters), and alleged murderer Grace Bertrand (Lizzie Brocheré). </P> <P> Sister Jude was once a philandering nightclub singer who unintentionally struck and seemingly killed a young girl in a drunk - driving hit and run accident in 1949, leading to her becoming a nun and being selected to work at Briarcliff . Sister Jude is terrorized by the memory and goes to see the family of the girl, only to learn that the girl survived the accident with only a few broken bones . She figures that God had a plan for her all along, and decides that it is her job to destroy all the remaining evil at Briarcliff . Sister Mary Eunice is a shy and innocent nun who fears Sister Jude, and becomes possessed by the Devil during an exorcism of another patient, becoming cruel and willful . </P> <P> Dr. Arden is a former Nazi whose experiments have produced "Raspers", mutated former patients, who lurk in the woods surrounding the institution, and who are fed the flesh of dead patients . Dr. Thredson is assigned to evaluate Kit, who is accused of being the infamous serial killer' Bloody Face' and believes his wife Alma (Britne Oldford) was abducted by aliens . Thredson also tries to "reform" Lana, who was an ambitious journalist attempting to expose Briarcliff's mistreatments of patients . She was in a relationship with Wendy (Clea Duvall), who was blackmailed by Sister Jude into committing Winters, before being killed by Bloody Face . Thredson helps Lana escape from the asylum, but she learns that Thredson is actually Bloody Face, and is kept prisoner . He rapes her and tries to kill her, but she manages to escape, only to end up back at Briarcliff . She later learns she is pregnant with Thredson's baby . </P> <P> Meanwhile, believing his wife is dead or missing, Kit has taken up with inmate Grace Bertrand, who has murdered her family as her father was sexually abusive towards her and her stepmother ignored it . Kit is arrested after Thredson hands in a taped confession, which he got by tricking Kit into confessing . Kit and Grace are taken to be sterilised after the pair are caught having sex . However, she is abducted by aliens and is later returned at an advanced stage of pregnancy and ready to give birth . Kit escapes custody and returns to Briarcliff, where he blackmails the Monsignor into letting Grace, himself, and their baby go . The three arrive at his old home to find his wife Alma, alive and with her own baby . The possessed Sister Mary Eunice, with the help of Dr. Arden, has Sister Jude deposed and committed, and takes over Briarcliff . Monsignor Howard tries to exorcise her but instead is sexually assaulted by her . Out of options, Howard kills her by throwing her off the third floor balcony, and Dr. Arden, having become loyal to Mary Eunice, cremates her while immolating himself . Lana successfully captures a confession from Dr. Thredson, but decides to confront him in his house to say she has turned the tape over to the police . He states that because he is insane, no jury will convict him and that she will be his last victim . As he reaches for a hidden gun, Lana shoots him in the head . </P>

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