Michael Farr (Ciarán Hinds) is a teacher raising his two children following the death of his wife two years earlier. Experiencing strange phenomena late at night around his family home, Michael isn't sure if he is dreaming or if something more sinister is at play. A distraction lies in an international literary festival that his town plays host to which attracts authors from all over the world. Working as a volunteer for the festival, Michael is assigned to look after Lena Morelle (Iben Hjejle), an attractive writer of ghost stories and tales of the supernatural. Becoming attracted to Lena, Michael tells her of his experiences. However, Lena's attention is drawn away by Nicholas Holden (Aidan Quinn), a bestselling novelist who harbours his own issues with letting go of the past.