Dead End

On Christmas Eve, the Harrington family takes a shortcut through a remote road to escape their usual route. Frank, bored with the familiar drive, leads Laura, Richard, Marion, and Brad into increasingly desolate terrain. The decision sets them on a path toward danger as the ordinary family trip begins to unravel.

A near-collision with another car occurs, and a white-clad woman appears at Frank's window, holding a baby. Marion suggests delivering the woman to a nearby cabin, but the car is full, so she volunteers to follow on foot. The encounter marks the first link to the ominous figure driving the night's events.

The family arrives at a cabin in the woods and split up to explore. Frank and Laura go inside while Richard disappears into the trees. Brad is left alone in the car with the woman.

Brad asks how the baby can breathe with its face covered by blankets, and the woman reveals the child is dead. His screams alert Richard back at the car, but Brad and the woman vanish into the surrounding darkness.

A hearse drives by amplifying Brad's screams; Marion heads toward the cabin to investigate while Frank and Laura remain in the car. They eventually find Brad's mutilated body lying on the road.

Laura calls the police, but the line is tainted by a woman's pleading in the background, a detail she hides from the others. Frank reveals his dislike for Laura's family, deepening the strain within the car.

They stop to inspect a baby carriage on the road, and Richard is abducted by the pursuing hearse. The family runs to save him, and Frank spots the woman in white again.

They find Richard's body, and Laura's mental state begins to unravel as she claims to see a deceased friend in the woods and insists they must visit. The danger escalates as the hearse circles back.

The family passes a road sign reading 'Marcott' and Frank realizes they have entered a military road not shown on maps. The realization deepens the sense of entrapment and danger.

During a stop, Laura shoots Frank in the leg with a shotgun that had been intended as a present for a relative, shocking him and everyone else. She then speaks of seeing a dead friend's face and abandons the car to 'visit' the woods, while the hearse reappears and Frank wards it off.

Frank shoots Laura in the head and she dies. He and Marion carry her to a ranger station, where Frank writes a note to give to Marion later.

The woman in white attacks Frank; he becomes deranged and beats Marion unconscious before pursuing the figure into the woods, where he is killed by an unseen force.

Marion awakens in a hospital, and Dr. Marcott explains her coma and reassures that she and the baby will be fine.

On the way out, a man claiming to be the one who found the family speaks with the doctor and confirms that Marion survived while a young woman and her baby died in the other car. The doctor leaves as Marion's ride fails to start, and the man offers a ride in the same hearse from Marion's dream.

Two workers sweeping debris from the crash discover Frank's note to Marion, providing an eerie closure to the events and hinting at the chain of consequences.