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Plot Summary

Totem (2017) Plot Summary Explained

Release, runtime and language
2017 · 92 mins · Polish
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Directed by
Jakub Charon
Starring
Karol Bernacki, Joanna Majstrak, Malgorzata Krukowska, Aleksandra Linda, Michał Sobolewski, Milan Skrobic

Following his release from prison, Wild finds work as a goalkeeper at a nightclub where his girlfriend, Dagmara, performs as a dancer. Driven by ambition and a desire to escape poverty, he looks to his brother Igor, a powerful gangster, as an example. Igor wants to shield Wild from his criminal enterprise. When Dagmara becomes pregnant and a dancer is violently assaulted, Wild seeks revenge. Drawn into the city's illicit drug trade, he plans a robbery with Igor's help, leading to escalating gang warfare and a spiraling cycle of retribution.

On this page (6)
  1. 1 Where to watch
  2. 2 What happens: full plot
  3. 3 Plot questions answered
  4. 4 Movie threads
  5. 5 Movies like Totem
  6. 6 Every angle
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Full plot summary · contains spoilers

What Happens in Totem: Full Plot Summary

The whole story of Totem (2017) explained, from the opening scene to the final frame: every key event, every twist and what it all adds up to. Read it as a quick recap before the sequel, to check a scene you missed, or to finally understand what really happened.

Kellie and Abby, two sisters, are navigating life after their mother Lexy’s death. When Kellie discovers a necklace that once belonged to Lexy, she notices it has a strange power: it seems to move objects. Convinced the piece is connected to her mother’s spirit, Kellie starts to sense a lurking presence in their home. The discovery unsettles the family, especially when their father, James, interprets the moving objects as a sign that Kellie is trying to sabotage his budding relationship with his girlfriend, Robin, who has just moved in.

Robin steps into a busy role trying to normalize life for the sisters, taking on household duties and attempting to ease Kellie into a sense of normalcy. But Kellie remains wary, and the uneasy balance at home is shaken further when Kellie witnesses a chilling vision: a standing corpse wrapped in plastic on the bleachers during track practice. This eerie image gnaws at her, and when they return home, Robin is seen gagging on long strands of blond hair, visibly shaken by something she’s experienced.

A family history twist deepens the mystery. Bernard, Lexy’s father, shows up, and during a conversation with Robin, it’s revealed that Robin knew Lexy and James in the past as a mutual friend. This connection adds a layer of ambiguity about the spirit behind the disturbances, suggesting the history between the adults may be bound to the present danger.

Kellie tries to document the haunting, hanging Christmas ornaments on every door and setting up motion detectors to collect evidence of the entity. The devices seem to respond most around the family cat, whose presence triggers frantic beeps before the animal darts away. Kellie even threatens to burn the totem, hoping to force the entity to reveal itself. In retaliation, the entity knocks over a bookcase, crushing the cat and escalating the peril in the house.

That night the danger becomes personal and aggressive. The entity grows stronger and reaches for Abby, forcing the family to flee and seek help from Bernard. At first, Bernard refuses to believe their story, but as the possibility that the entity is his late daughter surfaces, he rushes back into the house, putting himself and everyone else at greater risk. Kellie’s boyfriend, Todd, arrives with some obscure knowledge about destroying totems, offering a possible path to safety.

A ruthless chain of revelations follows. Kellie hides Todd in her room while she shifts blame onto Robin for the mounting chaos. Bernard’s health worsens, and in a cruel moment, Kellie uses his inhaler to feign helping him, then drains the supply, leading to his death. Robin, searching for Abby, uncovers a wedding ring hidden in the base of one of Kellie’s trophies, a clue that deepens the sense of betrayal and hidden motives within the family. When confronted, Kellie accuses Robin of weakness while claiming her father needed someone stronger, pushing Robin toward a dangerous confrontation in a bathtub that ends with Robin seemingly drowning.

The violence peaks as Kellie targets Todd and then her own father. She fatally strikes Todd with a hard blow and hurries to extract Abby from a crawlspace. James discovers the truth, realizing Kellie is behind the carnage. He’s knocked unconscious and tied to a chair as Kellie wrestles with the totem, trying to persuade him that they belong together. Robin awakens and emerges to try and rescue James and Abby, but Kellie pursues Robin in a rage, aiming to kill her with a shard of glass. The mother’s spirit reappears to frighten Kellie, who collapses in fear, and the final blow comes when Kellie is impaled on a sharp, pointed artifact that pierces her face.

The closing image offers a fragile spark of hope. The film ends with the three survivors—Abby, James, and Robin—resting inside a small, parked house in a quiet, desolate location. They seem to be on the path to recovery, with Abby continuing to speak to someone unseen, suggesting the haunting may be over for now, but the echoes of the past linger in the shadows of their new sanctuary.

Last updated: October 09, 2025 at 15:52

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Plot questions answered

Totem Plot Explained: Your Questions Answered

The questions people ask most about Totem (2017): what happens in the confusing scenes, why the characters do what they do, the twists, hidden details and what the ending means. Each answer contains spoilers.

Q1

Why does Kellie kill Bernard?

Kellie kills Bernard by deliberately exhausting his asthma inhaler after lying about helping him. She uses his health condition as a weapon because Bernard had come to help the family and was getting in the way of her manipulation. This murder demonstrates how far Kellie has descended into darkness, using even family members to achieve her twisted goals.

Foreshadowing: Earlier, Bernard's respiratory issues are mentioned when he struggles to breathe, making his dependence on the inhaler a detail Kellie exploits.

  • kellie
  • bernard
  • death
  • inhaler
  • murder
Q2

Is the haunting real or is Kellie faking it?

The haunting is revealed to be manipulated by Kellie herself. While supernatural events do occur, Kellie is controlling and exaggerating them to manipulate her family. The moving necklace, knocked-over trophies, and other disturbances are either staged or exploited by Kellie to create chaos and frame Robin.

Foreshadowing: Kellie's obsessive documentation with motion detectors and her threat to burn the totem suggest she has more control over the situation than she lets on.

  • kellie
  • haunting
  • manipulation
  • supernatural
  • deception
Q3

Why does Kellie frame Robin?

Kellie frames Robin because she views her as a threat to her family structure and resents her replacing her mother. Kellie tells her father that Robin is weak and that he needs someone stronger. By making Robin appear incompetent and unstable, Kellie attempts to push her out of the family and maintain control over her father and sister.

Foreshadowing: From the moment Robin moves in, Kellie remains wary and unsettled by the changes Robin brings to the household.

  • kellie
  • robin
  • framing
  • family conflict
Q4

What is the totem and what does it do?

The totem is an object connected to the supernatural entity haunting the family. It appears to be a conduit for spiritual activity in the house. When Todd arrives, he mentions knowledge about destroying totems, suggesting they can be eliminated to end a haunting. The totem becomes central to the climax as Kellie tries to destroy it while being confronted by her mother's spirit.

Foreshadowing: The necklace Kellie discovers is directly connected to her mother's spirit and appears to be the source of supernatural movement in the home.

  • totem
  • haunting
  • supernatural
  • object
Q5

Why does Kellie become violent toward her family?

Kellie's violence stems from unresolved grief over her mother's death combined with psychological manipulation. She cannot accept Robin as a new maternal figure and becomes obsessed with maintaining her connection to her mother's spirit. Her actions escalate from manipulation to murder as she tries to control everyone around her, believing she is doing what's necessary to keep her family together.

Foreshadowing: Kellie's early visions of the corpse and her desperate attempts to communicate with her mother's spirit show her psychological instability growing throughout the film.

  • kellie
  • violence
  • grief
  • psychological
Q6

What happens to Robin in the bathtub?

Robin appears to drown in the bathtub after Kellie pushes her into it during a confrontation. Kellie claims her mother was weak and accuses Robin of the same weakness. Robin is submerged and appears lifeless, though she later awakens during the final confrontation to try and rescue James and Abby.

Foreshadowing: This moment occurs after Robin discovers the hidden wedding ring in Kellie's trophy, which fuels Kellie's intense reaction.

  • robin
  • bathtub
  • drowning
  • confrontation
Q7

How does Kellie die at the end?

Kellie dies when she is impaled on a sharp, pointed artifact. After pursuing Robin with a shard of glass intending to kill her, Kellie is confronted by her mother's spirit, which frightens her. In the chaos, she falls onto a pointed object that pierces her face, killing her. This occurs as Robin attempts to intervene and save James and Abby.

Foreshadowing: The film repeatedly uses pointed objects and the totem itself as dangerous elements throughout the escalating violence.

  • kellie
  • death
  • impaled
  • final confrontation
Q8

What does the ending mean?

The ending shows the three survivors, Abby, James, and Robin, finding refuge in a small house in a desolate location. They appear to be on a path to recovery away from the traumatic house. However, Abby continues speaking to someone unseen, suggesting the supernatural influence may not be completely gone and trauma lingers. It's a bittersweet conclusion offering hope while acknowledging lasting psychological effects.

Foreshadowing: The entire film has been building toward escaping the haunted home, making the tiny house represent both safety and continued uncertainty.

  • ending
  • survivors
  • recovery
  • haunting
Q9

Why does the cat trigger the entity's activity?

The family cat seems to sense the supernatural presence more acutely than humans, causing the motion detectors to beep frantically whenever the cat is near. This suggests the entity is more active or responsive in the presence of the cat. The cat's fear and the escalating activity eventually lead to the cat being crushed by a falling bookcase, showing the entity's dangerous power.

Foreshadowing: The cat's sensitivity to supernatural activity is established early as the detectors respond most strongly around the animal.

  • cat
  • entity
  • motion detectors
  • supernatural
Q10

What was the wedding ring discovery?

Robin discovers a wedding ring hidden in the base of one of Kellie's trophies while searching for Abby. This discovery suggests Kellie has been hiding personal items and perhaps keeping secrets from the family. The ring's significance isn't fully explained, but it represents hidden motives and further evidence of Kellie's deceptive nature.

Foreshadowing: This discovery occurs late in the film when tensions are highest and Kellie's true nature is beginning to surface.

  • wedding ring
  • trophy
  • discovery
  • secret
Q11

Why does Kellie kill Todd?

Kellie kills Todd because he has come to help the family and possesses knowledge about destroying totems, which could end the supernatural disturbances she has been manipulating. Rather than let him expose or stop the phenomena she controls, she sneaks up on him and strikes him fatal blows before he can act.

Foreshadowing: Todd arrives with knowledge about destroying totems, making him a threat to Kellie's manipulation of the supernatural events.

  • todd
  • death
  • killing
  • murder
Q12

Is Lexy's spirit really haunting the family?

The film creates ambiguity about whether Lexy's spirit is truly present. While supernatural events occur, it's revealed Kellie has been manipulating much of the chaos. The mother's spirit does appear at the climax to stop Kellie, suggesting some genuine spiritual presence exists. However, much of what was attributed to the haunting was actually Kellie's psychological manipulation.

Foreshadowing: Early suggestions that the necklace connects to Lexy's spirit set up the ambiguity that persists throughout the film.

  • lexy
  • spirit
  • haunting
  • supernatural

Movie threads

More Movies Like Totem, by Mood & Story

Curated lists built around what makes Totem tick: the same mood, the same kind of story or the same emotional payoff. Each list explains why these movies belong together.

Crime spirals of ambition and revenge like in Totem

Characters lured into a criminal life seeking escape, only to be consumed by it. If you liked Totem's story of a man drawn into gang warfare despite his brother's efforts to protect him, you'll find similar movies here. These crime dramas feature protagonists whose ambitions for a better life lead them down a dark path of escalating violence and bitter consequences, echoing the feel of Totem.

  • sinister
  • oppressive
  • anxious
  • grief-stricken
  • violent
  • futile
  • Tone: dark, bleak
  • Pacing: steady, escalating
Why these movies?

The story pattern: The narrative follows a protagonist, typically motivated by ambition, poverty, or a desire to protect loved ones, who enters the criminal underworld. Initially seeing it as a solution, they soon find themselves entangled in a web of obligations and violence. Their attempts to control their situation or seek revenge only accelerate their descent, leading to inevitable tragedy and loss.

Why they belong together: These films are grouped by their shared exploration of the corrupting influence of crime and the inescapable nature of violent cycles. They share a dark tone, heavy emotional weight, and a steady pacing that builds towards an intense, often bleak or bittersweet conclusion, focusing on the psychological toll of the criminal life.

Movies about the burden of protection like Totem

Stories where shielding loved ones from danger leads to catastrophic consequences. This collection features movies similar to Totem, where characters grapple with the heavy responsibility of shielding their family from harm. If you were captivated by Igor's attempts to protect Wild from his criminal life and the tragic outcomes that follow, you'll find compelling parallels in these emotionally heavy, dark-toned dramas.

  • oppressive
  • anxious
  • grief-stricken
  • family trauma
  • claustrophobic
  • betrayal
  • Tone: dark, heavy
  • Pacing: steady, character-driven
Why these movies?

The story pattern: The narrative revolves around a protector figure, often an older sibling or parent, who tries to insulate a loved one from a dangerous environment or their own flawed choices. Their methods of protection—secrecy, control, or involvement in the very danger they seek to avoid—create tension and often backfire spectacularly, pulling the person they wanted to save deeper into the fray and leading to shared tragedy.

Why they belong together: These movies share a focus on familial bonds strained by external pressures and well-meaning but misguided actions. They are united by a dark, oppressive mood, high emotional stakes, and a steady pacing that builds towards a climax where the act of protection itself becomes the source of the conflict.

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Movies Like Totem

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Every angle

Totem (2017) Explained: Plot, Timeline & Characters

Everything about Totem in one place: what happens in the plot summary, the timeline in chronological order, the characters and meaning and a spoiler-free summary. What's After the Movie adds the cast, box office and post-credit scenes.

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