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.

弗兰克一步踏错，导致妻子的哥哥摔下梯子，他不得不照顾侄儿博，并把他带去参加和好兄弟卡斯伯计划好的漂流旅行。旅行中，弗兰克和卡斯伯被照顾小孩的重任压得喘不过气来，他们决定终止水上活动，转而去参加斯坎讷堡音乐节，在那里，有酷爽饮料和火辣美女。