The Holding

Dean's body is dragged into a shallow grave during the dead of night by Cassie and Cooper. Their eight-year-old daughter Amy watches from a distance, unknowingly witness to the crime. The hurried burial sets a secretive, ominous tone that threads through the rest of the story.

Eight months pass and Cassie fights to run the farm with dwindling finances while juggling her two daughters. The relationship among the family becomes strained as money and stress mount. Cassie's isolation grows as she faces pressure from the farm's future.

Karsten, a sinister neighboring farmer, pressures Cassie to sell the farm and even suggests marriage as a condition. Cassie refuses, sensing danger behind his interest. His looming presence hints at a new external threat to the family.

Aden, Dean's old friend, arrives and asks to stay the night. After Amy urges it, Cassie reluctantly agrees to let him stay. The following day Aden convinces her that he can be useful on the farm and she allows him to stay.

Aden settles in and begins to help with the farm’s finances and cattle work, easing Cassie's burdens. Hannah immediately dislikes his presence and suspects his intentions with her mother. The dynamic adds tension to the household.

Karsten's jealousy and threats escalate, as he seizes opportunities to intimidate Cassie. He murders one of Cassie's calves and constructs a roadblock that blocks her access to the outside world. The farm's isolation deepens and sets the stage for a violent confrontation.

Aden tells Cassie he will speak to Karsten, but instead he kills Karsten and his brother Noah in cold blood. The killings remove a human threat but reveal Aden's dangerous, violent nature to the family. Cassie remains unaware of the full scale of the danger yet.

Life on the farm stabilizes as Aden helps with finances, securing a better cattle feed deal and suggesting that Cooper be let go to cut costs. The household adapts to a new power dynamic centered on Aden. Yet the social balance within the family remains fragile.

Hannah confronts Aden about his true intentions on her mother’s behalf. In a shocking moment, Aden reveals he knows about Dean's abuse of Hannah, which stuns her and pushes her toward fleeing the farm. The revelation fractures the household relations further.

Aden begins an irrational pursuit of his supposed daughter, and when he returns with Hannah missing, he strikes Cassie. Cassie throws him off her property at gunpoint and warns that he will not be welcome back. The family is overtly in danger from Aden.

Cassie tracks down Hannah and the two finally connect again; Hannah promises to return in the morning. The reconciliation signals a fragile shift back toward family unity. The mother-daughter bond provides a glimmer of hope amid escalating danger.

Cassie finds Dean's wedding ring among Aden's belongings and, driven by fear and doubt, digs up Dean's unmarked grave. To her shock, the grave is empty, proving Dean is not buried in the manner she believed. The discovery deepens the deception surrounding Dean's fate.

The next morning, Cooper and Cassie discover Cassie's prized bull dead, its throat slit. This brutal act pushes Cassie toward confronting Karsten again, and she discovers the rotting bodies of Karsten and Noah at his place, with Aden living there. The violence around the farm has now engulfed them.

Aden confesses that Dean is alive and fled to the oil rigs, where he told Aden about the abuse of Hannah. He complains about the man who had everything and wasted it, revealing his own motives to form a 'family' with Cassie and the girls. The truth further strains Cassie and the daughters from Aden's control.

Amy lures Aden toward the slurry pit; she pushes him into the methane-filled cavern. Cassie lights a lighter she finds in the mud, and when it falls into the pit, the methane explodes, killing Aden. Cassie, Hannah, and Amy survive, clinging to each other as a family.