The film begins aboard an airplane where Carter (Zach Roerig) appears visibly shaken. Seated next to him, Faith (Laura Wiggins) is concerned and inquires about his distress. Carter reveals that just a week prior, he witnessed a deeply unsettling video, followed by a chilling phone call warning him he would perish in seven days, precisely five minutes from their current time. As turbulence strikes the plane, Carter heads to the bathroom, prompting Faith's friend Kelly (Lizzie Brochere) to become alarmed upon hearing about the video, as she too has seen it.
As panic escalates, the aircraft begins its descent, with a thick, black sludge creeping from the restroom. Awash in dread, Carter retreats, only to confront a swarm of flies emerging from the cockpit. The terror heightens when Carter glimpses Samara Morgan (Bonnie Morgan) creeping out of a well on the monitor.
Fast forward two years, we meet Skye (Aimee Teegarden), a college student at a yard sale where she stumbles across a VCR and tapes. Gabriel (Johnny Galecki), a professor, mentions that these items belonged to Carter's father after his tragic plane accident. Later that evening, after a fleeting romantic moment with Gabriel, Skye unwittingly triggers the infamous video. Gabriel's screen is filled with horrific images, shortly followed by a foreboding phone call proclaiming, "Seven days". To add to the unsettling atmosphere, the rain outside begins to fall upward.
We then shift focus to Julia (Matilda Lutz) and her boyfriend Holt (Alex Roe), who is preparing for college. After they exchange a brief Skype call, which is interrupted when Holt joins some friends, Julia experiences a nightmarish vision involving him. Her worries intensify upon receiving a frantic video call from Skye, who warns her, "she is coming". Julia promptly sets out to find Holt at his campus.
Once Julia arrives at his dorm, the atmosphere is tense as she searches for him, eventually discovering a book by Gabriel that delves into Samara’s tragic tale. Her instincts lead her into a student lounge where she overhears a conversation about Holt. Following her gut, she tracks down Skye, who insists on bringing her to Holt, leading Julia to believe she will find him there.
However, Skye takes Julia to her apartment instead. As Julia investigates Skye's phone, a message from Holt warns her against whatever she’s about to witness. When tensions boil over, Skye becomes enraged and attempts to force Julia to view the cursed tape. Desperate, Julia locks herself in the bathroom, but just as the clock strikes 7:10, Skye's impending doom unfolds with Samara emerging from the screen, leading to her gruesome demise. Julia narrowly escapes a similar fate, only to find herself entwined in Holt's protective grasp.
Both Julia and Holt learn that they too have inadvertently watched the video, placing them in deadly peril unless they find a "tail" to pass it on to. They race against time to unravel the mystery as Julia experiences a premonition involving Samara during a fleeting moment. Motivated to act, she and Holt plan a visit to Gabriel, who reveals the unsettling experiment that surrounded their predicament.
With the clock ticking, Julia discovers deeper secrets buried within the cursed tape. It contains hidden footage intertwined with eerie imagery, hinting at Samara's tragic past. The narrative comes to life as Julia learns about Samara's tortured childhood and her demise at the hands of her parents, left to rot in a well, only to survive for seven days.
Their quest to lay Samara's spirit to rest leads them to eerie tombs and flashbacks that depict her harrowing experiences. As they dig deeper, they find themselves intertwined with Burke (Vincent D'Onofrio), a blind man who provides chilling insights about Samara’s existence. Yet the chase takes a dark turn when tragedy strikes, and they witness Gabriel's fatal encounter.
As they uncover Samara's skeleton and the ghastly truth surrounding her fatherhood, Julia's connection to the supernatural intensifies. Their final confrontation involves a hair-raising showdown with Samara, leading to an emotional release as they burn her remains, seemingly freeing her trapped soul.
In the concluding moments, Julia's luck seems to take a sinister twist as she finds a disturbing mark on her hand. As she grows increasingly paranoid, Holt's frantic attempts to halt the spread of the cursed video unravel their lives. In a pulse-pounding climax, Julia faces the horrifying reality of Samara infiltrating her world, leaving viewers on edge and questioning what lies ahead for Julia and Holt.
