The passage describes a ruler named Prospero who, when half the people of his land had died, called a thousand healthy friends and moved with them to one of his palaces to escape. It then describes seven rooms in the palace, with each having hangings and windows of a different color, except the seventh room which was entirely covered in black. At a masquerade ball where guests wore costumes representing the seven colors, the guests discover that the figure in a blood-red costume is actually the Red Death personified, and one by one the dancers fall dead until darkness and decay rule over all.