Robert Forrester is undergoing a challenging divorce from his estranged wife, Nickie. In a quest for solace, he begins to observe Jenny Thierolf, a woman living in the serene countryside, seeing her as a symbol of tranquility that starkly contrasts his turbulent life. One evening, to his surprise, Jenny catches him watching her. Rather than reacting with anger, she invites him into her home, where they engage in a heartfelt conversation.
After their unexpected meeting, Jenny decides to break off her engagement with her fiancé, Greg, convinced that this chance encounter with Robert signifies a moment of destiny. However, her friends, who still support Greg, express disapproval of her decision. As Jenny's infatuation grows, she begins to follow Robert more closely—waiting for him outside his office, making late-night phone calls, and even attempting to stay over at his place. Despite her advances, Robert resists her, informing her that he's received a job promotion that requires him to move to Philadelphia, which he believes makes any potential relationship unfeasible. When Jenny offers to accompany him, he politely declines.
The plot thickens when Robert is attacked by Greg on a desolate country road. Even though Greg has the upper hand, Robert manages to overpower him, knocking him into the river. Wounded yet determined, Robert pulls Greg from the water and leaves him gasping on the riverbank. Shortly after, the police come looking for Robert as Greg is missing, and Robert confesses about their fight and mentions he left Greg near the river. However, without a body, the police speculate on the possibility of foul play, leading to Robert’s employer reevaluating his job offer in Philadelphia, resulting in his suspension. Alienated by a former colleague and threatened by Greg's father, who believes Robert is responsible for his son’s disappearance, Robert finds himself in a spiraling chaos.
As he navigates his tumultuous interactions with Jenny, she becomes increasingly convinced that Robert has a dark omen above him, symbolized by the owl, often associated with death. In a desperate move, she visits Nickie, who reveals she left Robert due to his aura of misfortune. When a badly decomposed corpse is discovered in the river, authorities suspect it might belong to Greg, prompting Jenny to take her own life, leaving a note detailing their history and asserting that Robert had been stalking her.
In this series of unfortunate events, Robert finds an ally in a widowed neighbor. Nonetheless, the tranquility is shattered when Greg shows up armed at the widower's residence, accidentally wounding the neighbor and narrowly missing Robert. Fearing for his safety, the police place Robert in protective custody, but trouble escalates when they inform him that Greg has been apprehended and it's revealed that Nickie financed Greg's deception of being dead to entrap Robert.
In a climactic confrontation at Jenny's house, Robert encounters both Nickie and Greg. Nickie implores him to exonerate her from any wrongdoing while warning him of Greg’s volatile state. Compounding the situation, Greg's father calls with devastating news: the widower has succumbed to his injuries, marking Greg as a murderer. In a tense showdown, Greg attacks Robert with a knife, leading to a struggle that ends with Greg being knocked out but Nickie suffering fatal injuries. Once again, Robert finds himself embroiled in a scene that casts him in a suspicious light. The film concludes with Robert gazing out of Jenny's window, evoking memories of his initial view of her home, leaving audiences with a haunting sense of unresolved tension.
