The Strange Thing About the Johnsons

In their family home, Sidney interrupts his 12-year-old son Isaiah while he is masturbating. He immediately apologizes and tries to reassure him that such acts can be a normal part of growing up. Unbeknownst to Sidney, Isaiah is actually masturbating to a photograph of Sidney as a younger man, sowing the seeds of a disturbing dynamic.

During Isaiah’s wedding to Marianne, Sidney’s private act is exposed when Joan discovers Isaiah secretly performing oral sex on Sidney. The moment disturbs Joan, though she struggles to regain her composure in front of guests. The revelation plants dark questions about the boundaries of the family’s relationships.

That same night, Sidney quietly leaves a typed memoir beneath Joan’s pillow. The manuscript, Cocoon Man: Confessions by Sidney Johnson, reveals Sidney’s history of incestuous abuse by his son and unsettles Isaiah when he later reads it. He begs Sidney not to print any more copies, but the damage lingers.

After a New Year’s Eve party, Isaiah’s behavior grows increasingly erratic and he lashes out at Marianne. The atmosphere in the household grows tense as underlying strains boil over. The couple’s plans for the future become uncertain under his volatile mood.

One night, while Sidney listens to a self-help tape in the bath, Isaiah bursts in and rapes him. Joan hears Sidney’s screams but does not intervene, a silence that intensifies the sense of betrayal within the house. The act marks a brutal escalation of the abuse between them.

The next day, Sidney attempts to leave the house with a secret copy of Cocoon Man, hoping to escape the abuse and the manuscript’s revelations. Isaiah gaslights him about their relationship, insisting the past is not what it seems. The confrontation redefines trust within the family.

Sidney runs into the street and is struck and killed by an oncoming van. The sudden crash ends his life and shocks those who remain, creating a void in the family that will be felt in the following days. His death becomes a pivotal turning point for Joan and Isaiah.

In the wake of Sidney’s funeral, Joan confronts Isaiah, convinced the abuse began years earlier during his prom night. She recalls Sidney crying for hours and questions how the family failed to protect him. The confrontation exposes the deep wounds caused by the cycle of abuse.

Isaiah denies the accusation, insisting that Joan is delusional and claiming he loved Sidney more than she ever did. The denial compounds the sense of betrayal and fuels the tension between mother and son. The truth remains obscured behind his defending rhetoric.

In a burst of rage, Isaiah tries to strangle Joan, who fights back with a knife. The struggle reveals the lethal rendering of their fractured relationship and pushes them toward a brutal breaking point. The room becomes a stage for escalating violence within the home.

Isaiah attempts to force Joan’s head into the fireplace, but she strikes him down with a fire iron and tosses Cocoon Man into the flames. The confrontation culminates in a violent bid to erase the manuscript and the memories it represents. The house fills with smoke as the wreckage of their past goes up in flames.

Joan collapses in tears as she watches the Cocoon Man manuscript burn and the violence around her reaches a fever pitch. The destruction of the book mirrors the destruction of the family’s own narratives. The scene closes with the weight of unresolved trauma lingering in the air.