Rosario "Rose" Fuentes, a successful Wall Street stockbroker, is suddenly thrust into a chilling and supernatural nightmare when she learns of her estranged grandmother Griselda's unexpected death. Despite a fierce snowstorm looming over New York City, Rosario makes the journey back to her grandmother's apartment to go through her belongings and find some closure. Upon arriving, she is greeted by the building superintendent, Marty, who informs her that due to the severe weather, emergency services are unlikely to arrive until the storm passes. This leaves Rosario confined in the apartment with her grandmother’s body, a situation that immediately sets an eerie tone for the night ahead.
As the hours pass, what begins as a simple act of grief quickly evolves into a series of disturbing supernatural events. Rosario uncovers a concealed chamber within the apartment, filled with ocult artifacts such as a Palo spell book, voodoo-like dolls, a human skull, and animal bones. These objects reveal that her grandmother was involved in practicing Palo, a spiritual tradition that combines elements of African religion with Catholicism. It becomes clear that Griselda had been performing rituals that involved daily blood sacrifices, a practice that Rosario interprets as her grandmother attempting to curse her in some way. Feeling desperate and frightened, Rosario tries to perform a ritual herself, hoping to break any curse cast upon her. However, it proves to be futile as supernatural forces intensify.
Throughout the night, Rosario is haunted by visions of her deceased mother, Elena, suffering from severe decay, which only deepen her horror and confusion. A confrontation with a neighbor, Joe, provides crucial insight into the history of her grandmother’s practices. Rosario learns that her grandmother had actually made a deal with an evil spirit named Kobayende in order to safeguard her family and help her realize her dreams. This revelation shifts the perspective: it was her father who was responsible for continuing the blood sacrifices by making a deal with Kobayende, not Griselda herself. Rosario, in an attempt to rid herself of this malevolent force, performs a ritual that successfully traps Kobayende inside her grandmother’s corpse.
As dawn approaches, Rosario’s father arrives at the apartment, revealing the horrifying truth: he was the one who forged the pact with Kobayende, and Griselda had only been offering her blood to keep the demon at bay. Her father, consumed by the spirit’s influence, begins to perform further sacrifices in a twisted attempt to maintain control, but this results in his possession by Kobayende. He attacks Rosario in his possessed state, prompting [Joe] to try and help her. Tragically, Kobayende mortally wounds Joe in the process. In a desperate bid to free herself, Rosario manages to kill her father, believing that she has finally defeated the evil spirit.
However, the horror does not end there. In the final haunting scene, Rosario is shown helping out a doorman who had previously asked for her help but was ignored due to his low income. Once they leave, the scene takes a terrifying turn: a decayed hand of Kobayende bursts from Rosario’s mouth, signifying that the evil spirit still lingers, perhaps waiting to return or continue its malevolent influence. This unsettling ending underscores the film’s themes of ancestral curses, hidden dangers, and the persistent power of dark forces lurking beneath the surface of seemingly ordinary lives.
