During a Viking raid on a Norman monastery in 1050, a raiding party uncovers a wolf cub hidden behind a locked door they presume guards treasure. As compensation for the lost gold and silver, the raiders haul the cub back to Norway. By the time the long ship reaches the Norwegian coast, every Viking is slain by the creature, and the wolf vanishes into the wilderness, leaving behind a shadow of what’s to come.
In present-day Nybo, a small Norwegian town, 17-year-old Thale Berg, Elli Rhiannon Müller Osborne, has just moved into a new home with her mother Liv, Liv Mjönes, after Liv transfers from Oslo to Nybo’s police force following Thale’s father’s death. Thale’s relationship with her mother is strained, and she clashes with her stepfather Arthur, Vidar Magnussen, while clinging to her deaf younger sister Jenny, Mia Fosshaug Laubacher. The family dynamics form a tense backdrop as Thale tries to navigate the changes brought by the move.
The quiet town life is jolted when Thale receives a text from her high school friend Jonas Larson, Sjur Vatne Brean, inviting her to a party in the woods by the bay. The gathering devolves into a terrifying night: Elin Gran, Silje Øksland Krohne, the Mayor’s daughter, is attacked in the dark, and Thale is wounded while trying to help her. The police arrive to find Elin’s body and a mutilated claw, while the party attendees claim they saw nothing and fear their own safety. The medical examiner notes the injuries point to a large beast but can’t confirm if it’s a wolf. To get answers, the force brings in a veterinarian, William Nordvaag, Arthur Hakalahti.
Enter a mysterious one-armed man, Lars Brodin, Ståle Bjørnhaug, who insists the creature is a werewolf he has tracked across Scandinavia. Liv dismisses him as sensational, yet he leaves behind a silver bullet—an ominous hint of what’s to come. As the veterinary expert weighs in on the possibility of an oversized wolf, the town’s authorities rally, with Mayor Tove Gran, Anna Dworak, vowing to hunt the beast and ensure Nybo’s safety.
As the search party threads through the woods with a tracking dog, Thale begins to sense something uncanny. She experiences vivid dreams and heightened senses, while Jenny notices her sister sleepwalking and acting oddly. The hunt uncovers a headless corpse, and the menacing creature proves dangerous: two hunters and the dog are killed, and Eilert Sundas, Øyvind Brandtzæg, is seriously wounded. Liv confronts the beast in the mine, discovering the head of the earlier victim and realizing the danger is real. The wolf–torn body is examined, and William reveals that bullets seem ineffective against it, except for the silver bullet given by Lars, which finally proves fatal to the animal.
Still, the nightmare isn’t over. Thale’s visions intensify, and she grapples with guilt over Elin’s fate. A night of romance with Jonas is interrupted when a phone call comes through, and Thale undergoes a terrifying transformation under a full moon, revealing a more animalistic version of herself. She kills Jonas, and the coroner later confirms that Jonas’ injuries resemble those of Elin, but from a smaller predator. Lars explains the cruel truth: once someone is transformed into a werewolf, their humanity is gone, and the only way to end the curse is to kill the entire bloodline.
The threat finally infiltrates the hospital when Lars discovers that Eilert has contracted the beast. He shuts down Eilert’s life support and quietly departs, leaving Liv to confront an even more personal danger. Thale awakens in a shed near her home and decides to flee to Oslo on a night bus. A full moon again transforms her aboard the bus, turning her into a full werewolf just as the vehicle enters a tunnel. The bus crashes, and Liv arrives at the scene to find survivors and the aftermath of a wolf attack. Veterinarian William confirms that the wolf’s body contained human DNA, sealing the truth: Nybo is dealing with a genuine werewolf crisis, and Thale is the culprit.
Back at home, Thale stalks Jenny in her fully transformed state. Arthur intervenes with a lamp, seizing Jenny and driving toward the city center as Thale in pursuit causes a crash on a bridge near a crowded pub. A tense confrontation ensues at a storefront-turned-vet clinic, where Thale goes on a killing spree near the building. Liv, William, and Lars collide in the struggle; a tranquilizer dares to halt Thale’s rampage, but the situation spirals as Jenny hides and a final confrontation looms.
In the climactic moments, Liv contends with her daughter in a fragile stalemate. She loads a silver bullet and contemplates ending the nightmare, but a choice remains: end the outbreak or save Thale. Jenny acts decisively, stabbing the tranquilizer into Thale’s side to stop the attack. Thale is kept under watch in the vet clinic as Liv weighs the moral weight of mercy and containment. The film closes on a somber, ambiguous note: Liv places the silver bullet beside a photo of Thale on her nightstand, leaving the final fate of the girl shrouded in uncertainty—has she chosen euthanasia or exile to spare Nybo from further bloodshed?
- Themes of legacy and choice ripple through this tense, mythic thriller, where a historic encounter with a Viking-era wolf casts a long shadow over a contemporary family and a town gripped by fear.
- The story blends Norse folklore with a modern nightmare, exploring how a community responds when a hidden predator exposes the fragility of human control.
- The film traverses grief, guilt, and the moral complexities of protection, asking whether saving one life is worth sacrificing another, and whether a family can endure a transformed child who remains loved, even as she becomes something other than human.
