Three ghost-hunting high-schoolers visit the Moore House in Villisca, Iowa—the site of one of America’s most grisly unsolved mass murders. After their private tour is interrupted, the group sneaks back in at night, unaware of the otherworldly terror that awaits them.
Washed-up horror novelist Owen Slater has hit rock bottom following his exploitation of a family's tragedy in one of his best-selling novels. But, when paranormal investigator Jack Grady recruits him for his subsequent investigation in the town of Still Meadows (the setting of Owen's book) Owen sees this as the perfect opportunity to redeem himself.