Renee, Roberta Weiss, a young jogger, threads through a sprawling nature preserve in British Columbia, where the quiet canopy and rugged trails feel both inviting and ominous. As she moves deeper into the woods, she senses a creeping threat behind her, and soon she is confronted by Vern, a mountain man whose forceful patience and raw power pull her into an ordeal she cannot easily escape. The pursuit grows intense as Vern tries to compel her to climb a towering mountain, forcing her to flee and hide through the long night, only to be captured again at dawn.
The couple pushes further into the wilderness, their path winding through streams and trees until a splintering cry of danger cuts through the air when Renee plunges from a log that spans a river, narrowly avoiding a fatal fall. They press on toward a very remote cabin, where Vern’s later intent becomes terrifying—he attempts to rape Renee, but something stays his hand, leaving her trapped in a fragile, unsettled limbo with her captor.
On a riverbank, Vern and Renee encounter a man along the trails who seems ordinary at first glance, but the tension between the two men becomes clear when Renee reveals she’s being held prisoner. Ensuing talks reveal a shocking truth: Joe Evans, Dan Haggerty, is Vern’s father, and the two men live together in the woods. Joe promises to return Renee to civilization, even as Vern clings to the idea of keeping her under his control.
As they travel, a helicopter cuts across the sky, and the trio meets two hunters along the way. Renee’s desperate cries echo through the trees, drawing Vern to react with violence as he shoots one hunter, while the helicopter pilot manages to save the other. The escape attempt then stalls when Joe, bearing wounds from the past, retracts his vow to usher Renee to safety—he fears that law enforcement will come for them after the hunter’s murder.
The relationship between Vern and Renee grows increasingly dangerous and toxic. Vern’s obsessions sharpen, his temper flares, and Joe’s presence does little to cool the tension; a family bond is strained to breaking, and the father’s attempts to mediate fall apart when Joe is injured and left behind as Vern drags Renee deeper into the wilderness. Renee endures relentless psychological torment and physical peril, tested by isolation and the savage mood of the land itself.
There is a moment of desperate resistance when Renee steals Vern’s rifle and makes a break for safety, plunging back into the trees. The pursuit becomes a brutal game of chance as she tumbles down a hillside and over a cliff, landing in a river and swimming toward safety, while Vern fires after her from above with relentless focus. She finally reaches a stretch of railroad tracks and confronts the final threat, only to be met with a gunshot from Joe, who has somehow survived his earlier injuries. In a final, grim twist, the wilderness remains both a prison and a witness to the struggle for freedom, justice, and survival.
