Andrea Fletcher Ellen Barber, a clinically insane former pianist, tracks down her biological daughter Janie Danielle Brisebois, who was raised by foster parents after Andrea’s inability to care for her. Andrea’s obsessive boyfriend, Jude Richard Lynch, a circus clown, aids in the search, and when he learns Janie is nearby, the pursuit becomes a tense, looming fixation. Janie, now five, is being raised by Sheri Bennett Sharon Farrell and her husband Miles, an astrophysics professor, and Sheri is immediately unsettled when she spots Andrea at the school.
One night, Andrea breaks into the Bennetts’ home, and Sheri discovers her cradling Janie in the bedroom, clad in a red dress. A brutal confrontation erupts, and Andrea flees, taking only Janie’s doll. Sheri frantically summons the police, left shaken by the harrowing intrusion. Andrea and Jude retreat to their apartment, where Andrea suffers a nervous breakdown, and the turbulent relationship ends with Jude stabbing her to death.
Sheri then experiences premonitions and psychic visions that blur the line between fear and warning. Miles seeks help from Dr. Jeena Kingsly Chitra Neogy, a parapsychology researcher with whom he is having an affair, while Det. Lt. Mark Denver Jeff Corey begins the investigation and visits Andrea’s father to gather clues about her whereabouts. At home, Sheri is haunted by a chilling vision of an eviscerated Andrea laughing in Janie’s bed and starts receiving taunting calls she attributes to Andrea, though she remains unaware that Andrea is dead and believes the calls to be witchcraft or curses.
During a rainstorm, Sheri leaves with Janie to meet Miles and Jeena at the university, but her car starts acting strangely and crashes. Sheri is hospitalized, and Janie is missing from the scene. Janie wanders toward the carnival where Jude works, and he hides her from the police. After Sheri is released, she is compelled toward a rural lake, where an abandoned farmhouse on the shore reveals Janie’s doll. Police drag the lake and recover Andrea’s body. At the carnival, Lenore Rosemary McNamara attempts to report that they have found Janie, but Jude murders her before she can.
Sheri grows convinced that Janie is running out of time. With Andrea’s death complicating the case, Jeena suggests that Sheri try to contact Andrea’s spirit. She orchestrates a town-square performance of one of Andrea’s pieces, hoping to reach the deceased musician through memory and music. Meanwhile, Jude makes a desperate bid to flee town, with Janie asleep in the back of his RV. He reaches a traffic jam near the square where Sheri is performing, recognizing the piece and fearing exposure. Miles notices a horse painting in the back of the truck, echoing a vision from Sheri’s mind. Miles breaks into the RV but cannot locate Janie. As Sheri’s performance builds to a final, wrenching crescendo, Janie appears from the crowd, walks toward her mother, and collapses from exhaustion, leaving the town to reckon with the fragile boundaries between love, obsession, and salvation.
