Shelter

Cara Harding and her husband are walking home from church when he is suddenly attacked and killed by unknown suspects. This traumatic event sets the emotional foundation of the story. Cara is left grieving and puzzled by her husband's murder, which remains unresolved.

Cara's father introduces her to Adam, a patient suspected of having multiple personality disorder. Adam's personalities display seemingly impossible physical traits, challenging Cara's understanding of psychiatric conditions. Her father hopes to convince her to believe in unexplainable phenomena.

Cara learns that Adam's personality David Burnberg was a real person who became a paraplegic and was murdered long ago. She visits David’s mother, who, highly religious, agrees to help. Adam, as David, reveals private details about David, unsettling her with his knowledge.

Adam begins to show more aggressive behaviors and reveals additional personalities, including Wes, a Satanist and metal singer. His behavior becomes increasingly dangerous, with disturbing revelations about his multiple identities.

While investigating Adam's home, Cara finds it filthy and adorned with devil worship objects. She also discovers a decomposing body in the bathtub, indicating horrific underlying secrets and potential murders connected to Adam's personalities.

Adam, as a family friend, questions Sammy about her faith in God.Meanwhile, Cara learns that her daughter’s faith has been shaken by her father's murder. Adam's actions threaten her family’s safety, leading to his arrest and questioning by police.

Cara visits Granny in the witch mountains after being directed by Mrs. Burnberg. Granny performs supernatural rituals, sucking out an old man's soul and sealing it in a container, suggesting the presence of spiritual forces beyond science.

Cara learns from an old man about a nonbelieving priest who inoculated his daughters against the flu, allowing others to die. The townspeople murdered the priest and his daughters, cursing the priest’s body to harbor faithless souls, tying into the supernatural theme.

Cara discovers that Adam is the faithless priest from decades ago, who has become a vessel for faithless souls. She realizes Adam intends to kill her father, as he possesses his soul in a sinister ritual, foreshadowing imminent danger.

Cara’s brother tries to take Sammy away as Adam, disguised as her father, appears. Sammy’s symbol on her back links her to the cursed priest. Cara fights to free her daughter’s soul from Adam’s grasp while he transforms into other personalities.

Cara strangles Adam, impaling his neck with a root from the ground, causing his body to release all attached souls. Sammy’s body is restored with her soul, and she begins humming a tune associated with David, implying that David’s spirit has merged with her.

After Adam’s death, Sammy regains her soul and is comforted by Cara. The story concludes with a sense of spiritual closure, suggesting the spirits were set free and the curse lifted through Cara’s faith and determination.