Fertile Ground

Emily and Nate Weaver are a happily married couple living in New York City. Nate is a recognized artist and Emily a fashion designer who are expecting their first child. They feel secure and excited about the future together.

Emily suffers a terrible miscarriage during a dinner party, and the doctors reveal that the scarring on her womb means she will likely never conceive again. The loss strains their relationship and casts a shadow over their plans for a family.

To start over, Nate and Emily move to Nate's family home in the countryside. At first the location feels enchanted, offering space and quiet, but an unsettling feeling settles in as unearthed secrets begin to surface.

While exploring the land, Emily discovers a skeleton on the property. The body appears ancient, so she doesn't think it poses immediate danger, yet the discovery hints at a dark history surrounding the house.

Emily finds an old trunk filled with baby items in the cellar and visits the local Historical Society. They reveal the house has a troubling past with several suspicious deaths in the 18th and 19th centuries and that Nate's aunt vanished when the house was new.

Nate grows distant and cold, returning to painting and shutting Emily out as the pregnancy becomes fraught with uncertainty. Emily feels isolated and begins to sense a malevolent undercurrent to the house.

Emily experiences unsettling visions of a blood-soaked woman and is told by a doctor it could be trauma. A phone call later confirms she is actually pregnant, though the pregnancy is deemed high-risk and she must spend most of it resting.

With strict bed rest, Emily grows bored and frustrated while Nate works long hours. To cope with loneliness, she organizes a party for her city friends at the house, hoping to feel connected again.

At the party, Emily suspects Nate's agent is having an affair with him. Later, the agent falls through the window of Emily's studio and is hospitalized, and Nate confronts Emily with anger.

While dealing with the agent's death, Emily reads press cuttings that reveal every woman who died at the house was killed by her husband while she was pregnant. She begins to fear the house has a pattern of turning husbands evil.

Terrified, Emily hides with a knife, awaiting Nate's return. She believes she is fighting a ghost, but the confrontation escalates as she accidentally stabs her friend who drove back with Nate; she then climbs onto the rooftop, hoping to escape.

They fall from the roof during the struggle, and she realizes she has killed Nate. The house's madness seems to claim its own, as she confronts the horror of what she has done.

In a mental hospital, a scan reveals Emily was not pregnant after all, and the visions, doctor’s notes, and Nate's odd behavior were symptoms of psychosis. She is left in a padded room, rocking an imaginary child.