Rene, Leah Rachel, is in the bath having a tense conversation with her cousin Zane Terence Jay, who is in the bathroom with her. He pushes her underwater, and she begins to drown. While looking up at his face from beneath the water, she sees the visage of an old woman above her. She wakes with a start, having fallen asleep and begun to drown. Her boyfriend Danny Steve Sandvoss wakes her up, and the two share a kiss before they try to settle back into their evening.
Zane, who has enlisted the help of Phil [Ivan Padilla], visits his family home with Rene, Danny, and her two sorority pledges, Julie Lindsey Scott and Laura Erin Reese. The pledges are forced to dress up as animals as part of an initiation, a display that unsettles Rene and hints at darker things lurking in the old house. Zane keeps seeing an old woman along the road, a sight that culminates in her stepping into the path and almost causing a crash.
Lester [Tobin Bell], the caretaker, lives in a trailer on the land, quietly searching for gold. He has found some, but keeps it to himself. His collection of stuffed oddities, a sign of his amateur taxidermy hobby, intrigues the college kids. He warns the group never to venture into the subcellar or venture outside after dark, a warning that will prove disturbingly prophetic.
Settling in, Rene enslaves Julie and Laura and forces Phil to explain how he knows so much about Rene and Zane's family history. Phil goes outside to get a signal on his mobile phone, but is abruptly cut in half by a ghost armed with an axe, a brutal reminder that the past in this house is deadly real.
The five remaining teens decide to dig deeper into the family history. Rene plays with Julie and Laura by staging The Godiva Run, a sorority tradition where participants run scantily dressed, with one allowed item of clothing and no overcoats. The goal of the dare is to reach Lester's caravan and retrieve one of his stuffed animals. Julie wears pants, while Laura strips naked and sprints boldly through the desert toward the caravan, ultimately returning with a prize, though Julie sprains her ankle and cannot complete the run.
Rene then assigns Julie another task—she must strip further down, keep underwear on, and be blindfolded. Rene takes Zane's belt and uses it on Julie as a test of trust. Rene and Laura depart, leaving Julie alone to face the escalating danger. Danny goes to fetch Phil but discovers Phil dead, his face severed in a grisly murder.
When the lights go out, Zane checks the machine only to find it still functioning, though the cable has been cut. Zane discovers Danny's faceless body, a gruesome sign that the danger is closing in. Rene and Laura realize they’re next and hurry back inside, where they find Lester dead as well. They attempt to escape in a car, but it’s sabotaged. They seize Lester's keys and Laura runs to Lester's caravan to retrieve his truck.
Inside the house, Zane ends up locked in another room while Rene is knocked unconscious as a ghostly presence scratches the words “Sins Of The Father” into her back. Zane finally breaks through and kills the woman, but the struggle continues as the spirit reappears and knocks him unconscious again, trapping them in a perilous stalemate.
Laura returns with Lester's truck, only to find the woman ready to strike. The specter vanishes after catching sight of a tattoo that resembles the necklace Rene wore throughout the film, allowing Laura to escape. Rene and Zane awaken to find themselves sealed inside a dark box, a chilling twist in which fear and fate blur together.
The old woman relentlessly seizes the necklace and drops the gold ring the caretaker had taken at the start of the movie. Rene and Zane scream in terror as the woman ironically buries them alive, sealing their fates and leaving the fate of the others shrouded in the desert night.
