Summary
Highlights
Two years after a mysterious incident shook her town, Justine Gandy, a recently appointed teacher, arrives at school to find all her students missing except for one boy, Alex. This bewildering event follows a night where all other children ran out of their homes and vanished.
The town is baffled, and an investigation yields no answers. Justine and Alex are questioned repeatedly. A month later, the school reopens, and at a tense town meeting, Justine expresses her struggle for answers, but parents, led by Archer, accuse her of being responsible since only her students disappeared. Her principal, Marcus, defends her, but she is eventually escorted home, where her car is vandalized with the word 'WITCH'.
Marcus suggests Justine take time off and advises her against contacting Alex. Despite this, Justine follows Alex home and discovers his parents sitting silently in a trance-like state, with all windows covered. She calls Marcus, who is enraged by her spying. Later, a strange woman from Alex's house approaches Justine in her car, cutting a lock of her hair.
Archer, father of a missing child, Matthew, obsessively reviews footage of his son's disappearance. He was the one who accused Justine and vandalized her car. He notices a tower in the direction Matthew ran and begins mapping the children's paths, believing they intersect near Alex's house. He later encounters a bloodied and possessed Marcus attacking Justine at a gas station and intervenes.
Officer Paul encounters a junkie named James trying to break into a house. During the arrest, James pricks Paul with a needle. Paul finds a recorded dashcam footage of him punching James, leading him to release James on the condition he never returns. Later, James's return prompts a chase where Paul disables his dashcam.
Desperate for drugs and money, James breaks into Alex's house, finding the parents in a trance. He steals items but hears noises from the basement. There, he's terrified to discover all the missing children standing motionless. He flees, pursued by Alex's parents. Later, learning of a reward for information on the missing children, James calls the tip line. He is spotted by Paul and runs into the woods, where he encounters a creepy red-haired woman (Gladys) before accidentally stabbing Paul. James then convinces Paul he knows where the children are, leading them to Alex's house, where Paul is mysteriously pulled inside, and later drags James in too.
Marcus initially refuses to check Alex's house but agrees to meet his parents. Instead, he meets Alex's aunt, Gladys, who claims his parents are sick. Marcus insists on visiting, angering Gladys. She later visits Marcus's home, performs a ritual with a stolen branch and Terry's hair, causing Marcus to enter a trance, vomit black liquid, and brutally kill Terry. Gladys then uses Justine's stolen hair fragment, driving Marcus to attack Justine. Archer intervenes, but Marcus pursues Justine, ultimately getting run over by a vehicle.
In the hospital, Archer and Justine realize Alex's house is at the intersection of the children's paths. Alex is revealed to be a quiet boy, bullied by Matthew. His aunt, Gladys, a sickly woman, moves in. Alex soon finds his parents in a trance. Gladys, now healthier, warns Alex not to tell anyone about her or his parents. She performs a ritual that causes children's nametags to shake. She later asks Alex to collect items from his classmates. He steals their nametags. At 2:17 a.m., Gladys uses these in a ritual with a bell, causing all the children to run to Alex's house, where Gladys drains their life force.
Alex returns home to find Paul and James in a catatonic state. Gladys instructs him to pack, telling him not to cross a salt line. Justine and Archer, outside, see Paul gesture for them to enter. They find Paul and James controlled by the salt line. Justine crosses the line, triggering an attack. Upstairs, Alex crosses the salt line, causing his parents to turn violent. Justine kills Paul and James. Alex, locked in, observes his parents breaking through. In the basement, Gladys attacks Archer. Alex tries to replicate Gladys's ritual, cutting his hand and wrapping Gladys's wig around a branch. He breaks it, causing Gladys to panic and flee, followed by the children who brutally dismember her. Archer snaps out of his trance and searches for his son. Justine finds Alex clutching his unresponsive parents. Archer finds the children standing in a circle around Gladys's remains. The narrator reveals Alex's parents are still being fed soup, Alex has left town, and most children remain catatonic, though some have regained their voices.