Pieces

Ten-year-old Timmy Reston is berated by his mother for playing with a jigsaw puzzle of a nude woman. He retrieves an axe and murders her, then dismembers the body with a hacksaw. When the police arrive, Timmy hides in a closet and pretends to be a witness, and the officers believe his story.

The investigation leads to no immediate suspect, and Timmy is sent to live with his aunt. He grows up with the trauma of his mother's murder and a secret history that will echo many years later. The family must carry the memory of his crime in silence.

A black-clad figure opens a box containing a photograph of Timmy's mother and her bloodied dress. He removes the bloodied jigsaw puzzle and starts to piece it together, reigniting the past trauma. The box signals that Timmy's dark history is resurfacing.

On the campus lawn, an unidentified killer decapitates a female student with a chainsaw and steals her head. Lt. Bracken and Sgt. Holden begin investigating the brutal, methodical murders. The killer shows a chilling familiarity with the school environment.

Professor Arthur Brown leads the detectives on a tour of the school, where groundskeeper Willard is seen with a chainsaw. Brown and Willard become suspects as investigators try to understand the killer's pattern. The team struggles to connect motive and opportunity.

Kendall receives a note inviting him to meet a classmate at the pool, but the killer sends a forged message to misdirect him. Later, another girl is murdered with a chainsaw at the pool, and Willard is arrested after police find the weapon and a missing torso.

In the locker room, Suzie is chased by the killer and sawn in half. The killer uses blasting music as a distraction and escapes with Suzie's legs. The pool and locker-room sequence deepens the sense of an unstoppable predator.

Kendall theorizes the killer is a faculty member who knows the campus well. Investigators learn that the dean changed his name and that his mother was brutally murdered; the dean turns out to be Timmy.

Dr. Jennings helps with profiling, and Lt. Bracken brings in undercover officer Mary Riggs as a tennis instructor to observe the killer's methods. Kendall assists in setting up the ruse to bait the suspect. The team builds a plan to catch the killer.

Timmy drugs Mary with a paralytic at his apartment and attempts to saw off her feet to fit her shoes. Bracken, Holden, and Kendall burst in; Bracken shoots Timmy dead and Kendall rescues Mary from danger. The immediate threat is neutralized, but the case isn’t closed yet.

From Timmy's apartment, the investigators find the bloodied puzzle. Holden jokes about joining the police as a bookshelf spins to reveal Timmy's 'human puzzle' corpse stitched together from victims' remains, in his mother's dress. The horrifying reveal leaves Kendall reeling.

The jigsaw corpse inexplicably comes to life and grabs Kendall, crushing his genitals as he screams. The image confirms that Timmy's grisly ritual may persist beyond his death, leaving the survivor in fear and awe.