Cry for the Strangers

In 1937, a young boy wakes in the night and sees apparitions of Native Americans dancing on the beach. He then discovers his grandparents buried up to their heads in the sand, a grisly sight that will haunt the town for decades. The chilling event foreshadows a legacy of memory and violence tied to the sea and storms.

Years later, the same boy grows into Chief Whalen, the head of the town police. He governs with a wary eye toward legends, but the past colors his judgments. His ascent connects the 1937 trauma to present-day authority.

In 1982, Dr. Brad Russell and his wife Elaine relocate to a fishing town on the Pacific coast. They soon learn of a local belief that thunderstorms bring apparitions to the beach. The couple becomes entangled in the town's eerie history.

Locals claim that during storms, apparitions of Native Americans dance on the beach. A fisherman named Riley believes these visions are ghosts of the storm dancers, a coastal tribe tied to deaths in the community. The legends set the stage for investigators to connect weather with murder.

Riley explains that the storm dancers carried out executions by burying victims up to their necks in sand so the tide would drown them. He ties these legends to the recent mysterious deaths plaguing the town. The belief intensifies the tension between superstition and police work.

Robby Palmer, a previously hyperactive child whom Dr. Russell treated years before, is now a normal boy living with his family in the town. His presence links the psychiatrist's past to the present case. The town's legends appear to touch him as well.

One night during a thunderstorm, Robby goes into a trance on the beach. His mother Rebecca falls into a pit and screams for Robby to help, but he does not move. She is eventually rescued by her husband.

Later, when questioned about the incident, Robby claims he cannot recall what happened. The memory gap deepens the mystery and fuels speculation among the grownups. The boy's unexplained trance becomes a central puzzle.

On the next night, Robby sneaks out to the beach with his sister Missy. Dr. Russell and others discover Riley's corpse nearby and observe Chief Whalen in fake war paint attempting to kill Missy. The scene makes the investigators question the true cause of the deaths.

Whalen is shot dead by his own deputy, ending his violent storm-driven rampage. The deputy's action reveals a tipping point between trauma and homicide. The town continues to grapple with the mystery of how memories can drive real harm.

Dr. Russell theorizes that the storms brought on by the town's legends trigger Whalen's traumatic childhood memories, causing him to reenact the deaths of others. The explanation blends psychology with folklore to account for the killings. The theory places the storm as a catalyst rather than a plain killer.

Elaine wonders aloud who killed Whalen's grandparents years earlier and how that mystery ties to the current deaths. The question hints at a longer, unresolved backstory behind the town's haunting. Her curiosity keeps the investigation alive.

The film dissolves to a night shot of Robby watching the apparitions dance as another storm approaches. The visions persist, suggesting the haunting is far from over. The closing image implies that memory and myth will continue to influence the town.