Joy, an undocumented [Filipina] immigrant in the UK, takes a housekeeper job with Katherine in a vast, shadow-filled mansion. There, Mr. Garrett lies bedridden and mostly unconscious, and Joy quietly hides her young daughter, Grace, behind the mansion’s doors without [Katherine]'s knowledge. The arrangement soon strains under suspicion and fear as Grace begins to notice troubling things around the house.
Grace observes that [Katherine] has been feeding [Mr. Garrett] sleeping pills, and on another night she uncovers a dead Filipina woman tucked away in a glass box in a secluded corner of the estate. The discovery deepens the danger: [Katherine] bullies Joy into continuing the dangerous regimen, forcing her to administer the wrong medication to [Mr. Garrett] despite Joy’s distress and growing unease. When Katherine is away, Joy crafts a liquid herbal remedy and administers it to [Mr. Garrett]. The man becomes lucid, calling for someone named Gloria, and, through Joy’s explanations, reveals that [Katherine] is an imposter. In a startling moment, [Mr. Garrett] expresses a surprising affinity for Filipino people and offers Joy and [Grace] a permanent job and residence. He insists that [Grace] call him “lolo” and that Joy call him “master.” Joy also uncovers undelivered letters from Gloria, the former Filipina nanny, to her family, which reveal Gloria’s distress at not being with them.
[Grace] grows fond of [Mr. Garrett], but his true nature begins to surface. He mutters about longing for the days when “there was a hierarchy” and “they knew their place.” It becomes clear that he had [Katherine]’s mother unjustly committed in order to steal her fortune. [Katherine] then brings Joy to a hidden area and shows the old woman Gloria, exposing the mansion’s dark secret.
Police arrive at the estate, claiming they’ve received word of an illegal immigrant on the premises, and Joy is hauled away. [Katherine] vows to kill [Mr. Garrett], but the tables turn as [Mr. Garrett] manipulates [Grace] into injecting [Katherine] with a substance that causes her to violently hallucinate before she tumbles down the stairs. [Grace] urges [Mr. Garrett] to help bring Joy back, but she realizes that it was he who actually called the police to the house. A brutal struggle between [Mr. Garrett], [Grace], and [Katherine] (who survives) ends with the mansion catching fire and [Grace] and [Katherine] escaping into the night, flame lighting up the halls behind them.
In the aftermath, [Katherine] helps [Grace] reunite with Joy, and she quietly offers Joy guidance on how to stay in the country, including a path that would involve Joy reuniting with [Grace]’s biological father, a route shaped by danger, loyalty, and the fragile bonds that grew between them in the mansion’s shadow.
