The young solicitor (a type of lawyer) Jonathan Harker goes to the country Transylvania to sell a house to a nobleman named Dracula. He realizes that Dracula is a vampire (or devil). Dracula catches Harker in his castle and goes to England, then bites the young woman Lucy Westenra and turns her into a vampire. Then Dracula bites Jonathan's wife Mina. Because of this, the other characters in the book, including Abraham von Helsing and Jonathan Harker, try to defeat Dracula.