Asia Reaves [Zazie Beetz] and her younger sister [Maria](Myha'la Herrold) flee their abusive father, slipping into a storefront to hide. When their pursuer closes in, Asia’s fear turns to violence as she shoots her father in the chest. He survives, and the sisters’ flight ends tragically for Maria, who returns to their father’s custody while Asia ends up jailed. Ten years pass, and Asia is released, starting a new life at a storied Manhattan hotel named The Virgil, where she works under the alias “Isabelle.” The hotel’s enigmatic superintendent, Lilith Woodhouse, looms over the proceedings, along with her resentful husband Ray and a circle of affluent guests, including beauty-care CEO Sharon Vanderbilt. The Virgil is depicted as a place with a long, shadowed history, claimed to be more than a century old.
At night, Asia’s instincts kick in when strange noises echo through the corridors. The lights go out, and she steps into the hall to investigate. A masked intruder named Bob slips into her room with violent intent, attempting to assault her. Asia fights back, disabling him and drawing in more threats as Sharon, Kevin Sullivan, and two other men close in with lethal designs. Pretending to be overwhelmed, she feigns unconsciousness until Sharon reaches for her legs, then acts decisively—electrocuting herself by biting a lamp wire and sprinting to gather an arsenal of weapons in a closet. The ensuing struggle is brutal: Asia kills Kevin by decapitating him and eliminates the others in a series of ruthless encounters.
When Lilith confronts her, Asia reveals a hidden past: after her arrest for shooting her father, a private investigator tracked down Maria, who had become a maid at The Virgil. Asia had intercepted the real Isabelle to seize her job and locate Maria, setting in motion a chain of revelations about the hotel’s secrets.
The tension escalates as the resurrected bodies of Kevin, Sharon, and the other assassins return, revealing The Virgil’s secret: its residents are part of an immortal cult. The very building seems designed to trap people on a deadly loop, with the only apparent escape through a fire escape. Ray betrays the illusion of safety, guiding Asia toward a room where Maria is kept. Reuniting with her sister evokes mixed emotions: Maria hates being abandoned, and Asia wants to rescue her. Yet Maria’s tenuous belief in an immortality path collides with harsh reality when she knocks Asia out and attempts a dangerous escape via a dumbwaiter.
As the sisters reconcile, Maria shares her backstory—how their father died of cancer, how she scrapped by in odd jobs, and how she ended up at The Virgil—and Asia explains she learned to fight in prison. Their bond strengthens, even as Lilith orders a floor-wide manhunt to recapture them. The sisters fight their way toward the top, using fire as a weapon—an axe catches flame and they cut through guards on every floor. A maid is fatally caught in the pursuit as they push toward the fire escape, only to be captured by Lilith on higher ground.
On the top floor, Lilith convenes a dangerous ritual with Ray: they summon Satan, who inhabits a severed pig head that also contains the coveted immortality list. Ray’s name is scrubbed from the list for his betrayal, and Lilith moves to eliminate him. The cult’s plan hinges on Maria offering Asia as a sacrifice so Maria can claim immortality, but Maria takes a different path—she writes Asia’s name on the pig head and cuts her own throat. A final, visceral showdown unfolds as Asia confronts Kevin, Sharon, and the core cultists, gradually disabling them until Lilith fuses with the pig head to fight Asia.
In the culminating struggle, Asia tears the pig head away, leaving Lilith impaled on a wooden beam. She then bleaches the pig head’s skin and sets it ablaze, erasing the names on the immortality list and making their deaths permanent. Yet she severs the skin bearing her own name, pushing the flaming relic down the elevator shaft. The resulting explosion claims a maid and detonates upon impact, while Asia carries Maria’s lifeless body toward safety and orders the remaining residents to flee.
Outside, the private investigator reappears, and Asia places Maria’s body in his car. In a last, shocking turn, Maria resurrects—Asia has written Maria’s name over her own to secure immortality for both of them. The investigator drives them away from the city as The Virgil’s top floor erupts in a final, fiery blaze.
