During winter, a college student named John, Matt Borel, drives nine friends to Lake Durand for a weekend at his family's ramshackle cabin. They settle in as snow begins to fall. Elaine, [Mary Agen Cox], tells her boyfriend, Alan, Charles Rucker, that she wishes they had not come. John, meanwhile, shows Cal the nearby graves of the Durand family, who were mysteriously killed at the cabin and found scattered across the property. The police suspect a gas explosion, but Native American locals insist a powerful winter spirit called “Shataba” roams the woods and may have caused the deaths.
That night, as the fire crackles, the friends swap spooky stories. John recounts the Moss Point Man—a dwarf-like creature that haunted a date: after running out of gasoline on a country road, Roger leaves his girlfriend in the car while he walks toward a station; later the woman hears scraping on the car roof and discovers Roger hanging from a tree. The following morning she is found alive, with teeth marks on her ankles. Cal departs with Lauri, [Jan Norton], as the wind begins to rise. Steve, [Gil Glasgow], then shares the “Green Light” legend, in which three fraternity pledges spend a night in a supposedly haunted, abandoned hotel; warned not to venture to the upper levels, the men disobey and wake in a trance-like state, two bleeding and one driven mad. Jookie, [Beverly Allen], grows increasingly unsettled and asks to leave. Harper, [Ray Gaspard], her boyfriend, tries to calm her as the wind grows louder around the cabin.
Inside, John and Steve step out to fetch more lamp oil, but in their absence they terrify Sally, [Robin Bradley], and Liz, [Brandy Barrett], by peering in at the kitchen window wearing a grotesque gorilla mask. Elaine, [Mary Agen Cox], chooses to share a chilling high-school memory: a timid girl named Annie faced a date-rape attempt, stabbed the attacker to death, and afterward struggled with mental balance. Later in college, Annie allegedly murders her dorm roommate for wearing Annie’s shawl without permission. Jookie’s panic grows, and the group debates leaving while the wind rattles the cabin. The storm intensifies, and the group wonders if they should stay or flee.
Suddenly, the window shatters with a forceful gust; Elaine is killed by shards of glass. Cal, Lauri, Harper, and Jookie dash into the woods as the cabin collapses behind them, driven by the relentless wind. In the darkness at the edge of a precipice, the four survivors hear a menacing growl draw closer, leaving their fate uncertain as the night closes in.
