The story, told from an unnamed third-person narrator, takes place in Hungary at an unspecified date. The opening passages describe a centuries-long rivalry between two wealthy families: the Metzengersteins and the Berlifitzings. The bitter enmity between the two families is so old that no one knows how far back it dates. The narrator states that its origin appears to rely on an "ancient" prophecy: "A lofty name shall have a fearful fall when, as the rider over his horse, the mortality of Metzengerstein shall triumph over the immortality of Berlifitzing."
Young Frederick, Baron of Metzengerstein, was orphaned at a young age and, thus, inherited the family fortune at age 18 (though the age changes throughout its many re-publications). Equipped with enormous wealth and power, he begins to exhibit particularly cruel behavior. "The behavior of the heir out-heroded Herod". Four days after he receives his inheritance, the stables of the rival family Berlifitzing catch fire. The neighborhood "instantaneously" attributed the act of arson to Frederick Metzengerstein (the story, however, does not say expressly if he did it or not).
That day, Metzengerstein, in his home, sits staring intently at an old tapestry depicting "an enormous, and unnaturally colored horse" that belonged to the Berlifitzing clan. Just behind the horse, Frederick sees its rider who has just been killed by "the dagger of a Metzengerstein". Soon, Frederick sees the horse move and assume "an energetic and human expression". Immediately, Frederick opens the door to leave, and the action strikingly causes his shadow to fall exactly on the spot of the murderer in the tapestry.
