Haunted

In the Civil War era, a young Native American woman named Abanaki is falsely accused of witchcraft and driven out into the desert to die. The community's superstition and fear condemn her, setting up a haunting legacy for the land. This original act of injustice casts a long shadow over the town's history.

Decades after Abanaki's exile, Patrick, his younger brother Russell, and their widowed mother Michelle restore the former town site as a movie ranch tourist attraction. Tensions simmer as Michelle's blindness and superstition unsettle Patrick and the family's guard, Andrew. The project ties the present to the past's unresolved legends.

A telephone booth is installed in the small cemetery on the ranch, turning the graveyard into a link between worlds. The booth becomes a conduit for mysterious calls that foreshadow danger to come. Its presence weaves a thread of supernatural unease through the story.

Jennifer Baines' car breaks down and she is towed to the ranch. Michelle and Patrick insist she spend the night before returning to Phoenix, drawing her into the family’s tense atmosphere. The stay introduces a fresh outsider into the town’s uneasy cycle of superstition and history.

Over dinner, Patrick tells Jennifer about the town's grim origins, including a corrupt preacher who stole Native American gold and hid it in the Superstition Mountains. He links the whispers of Abanaki's curse to the family’s misfortunes. The tale grounds the present events in a dangerous myth.

Michelle rants about Abanaki, claiming the car accident that killed Patrick's husband and left her blind was the curse's work. Patrick, overwhelmed by his mother's deterioration, resolves to commit her to a psychiatric hospital in Phoenix. The clash highlights the fragility of family ties under the weight of superstition.

The next morning, Patrick leaves with Jennifer and Michelle, leaving Russell and Andrew behind at the ranch. Their departure isolates the trio and funnels the tension toward the desert and mountains. The absence of the others sets the stage for looming danger.

That night, Andrew gets drunk and disturbs patrons at a local saloon, showing his volatile disposition and foreshadowing violent impulses. The incident suggests a widening breach between the family and their uneasy environment. The saloon scene amplifies the town's rough, haunted mood.

After leaving Michelle at the hospital, Patrick and Jennifer spend the night camping in the desert and share a moment of intimacy. The night deepens their bond and ties Jennifer more closely to the land's old legends. Their relationship becomes entwined with the town's cursed history.

Back at the ranch, Andrew begins receiving ominous phone calls from the cemetery booth urging him to seek the gold in the mountains. He travels by boat into the mountains to meet Prosperina, a Native American seer who interprets the family’s fate. The encounter seeds deadly greed and a sharpened resolve for revenge.

Prosperina declares Jennifer to be the reincarnation of Abanaki and demands a share of the gold. When Prosperina demands too much, Andrew strangles her to death, killing the seer who warned of doom. The murder escalates the quest for gold into a perilous, murderous motive.

Upon returning to the ranch, Andrew captures Jennifer, binds and gags her, and confesses to having caused the husband’s fatal accident out of jealousy. Patrick and Andrew set out to search for Jennifer, unaware she remains held captive. The captivity tightens the danger as the family conflict spirals toward a violent climax.

Jennifer escapes her bindings and is chased through the ranch by Andrew. She attempts to call the police from the cemetery phone booth, but is taunted by him as he breaks inside. In a desperate fight, she stabs him with a sharpened stick, and the broken lightbulb in the booth bursts into flame, killing him.

Moments after the confrontation, Andrew and Russell arrive and Jennifer collapses. Some time later, Patrick and Andrew depart the ranch, and Jennifer leaves to continue on her own, despite Patrick's professed love. The final image shows Abanaki's spirit wandering on horseback through the desert, maintaining the legend's hold.