Dark Harbor

A torrential rainstorm drives David and Alexis toward the last ferry to their private island, setting a tense, urgency-filled mood. They spot an injured young man by the road and reluctantly drive him to the nearest town for help. The chance encounter introduces a dangerous, unwanted passenger into their weekend.

Having missed their scheduled ferry, the couple checks into a motel while waiting for the next day's boat. The young man is also aboard the second ferry, though the couple never actually meets him again during the crossing. The day underscores their fractured marriage and growing tension with the stranger looming over their plans.

David arranges a romantic sailing trip to patch up their seven-year marriage, hoping the voyage will rekindle their connection. A fogbank rolls in and their plan backfires as they run aground and redirect attention to the unexpected guest on shore. They invite the stranger to share shelter and his fire, signaling the start of a dangerous entanglement.

David recruits the man to help unground the sailboat and invites him into their home. The man settles in as an unexpected guest, turning hospitality into a coercive power dynamic. Alexis watches with curiosity and unease as their guest becomes a fixture in their routine.

That night, Alexis dreams of jealousy and danger, while in the morning the couple discovers the stranger has cooked them breakfast. It transpires that David had delivered a blanket to the man, blurring lines of ownership and care. The dream and breakfast blur the boundaries between hospitality and intrusion.

David invites the man to stay for dinner to test his culinary skills, then leaves to play golf. Alexis and the guest pass the time with whiskey, dressing up in the boat house and sharing intimate details about themselves. The stranger reveals he is a poet who cannot write and shows Alexis his peculiar, multihandwritten poems, subtly drawing her into a dangerous game.

During a wild mushroom hunt, Alexis saves the stranger from consuming a lethal mushroom by teaching him how to distinguish it from an aphrodisiac variety. The two share a dark, unsettling dynamic as their attraction grows amid danger. They return home with unspoken tension simmering beneath polite surfaces.

David returns from the golf course claiming illness, then recovers enough to cook dinner for the trio. The plan to return the man to town is ruined when their boat dies halfway across, forcing him to stay another night. The restriction of travel tightens the trio's dependence on each other.

The next morning, David and Alexis argue, and the young man flees to the shed when David confronts him. He runs into the woods, pursued by David through the trees. This escalation marks the unraveling of the couple's marriage as a danger intensifies.

In the woods, Alexis tells David that their relationship is finished, then finds the young man lying nearby. He seduces her and tries to coerce her into eating one of the mushrooms, and she does not resist this time. The boundary between consent and manipulation blurs into a new, dangerous bond.

A funeral follows, and the young man's poem, written in Alexis's handwriting and signed by her, is read as if it were a suicide note. The reveal reframes the events as a calculated conspiracy rather than tragedy. The couple's life is co-opted by a new alliance.

David returns by boat, strips off his clothes, and swims to shore in icy water, symbolically washing away his former life. The act marks a personal rebirth or retreat from his past and the marriage. The island's isolation underscores the completion of his transformation.

A hooded stranger arrives later, kisses David, and is revealed to be the young man. It becomes clear that they are lovers and that Alexis's death was planned by both of them. The final twist reframes the tragedy as a calculated conspiracy rather than a simple act of passion.