Looking for a fresh start after the accidental death of their infant daughter Catherine, architect Dana Barrow moves with her husband David and 5-year-old son Lucas from Brooklyn to the Blacker estate in rural North Carolina, a once-grand dream home that has sat abandoned and run-down since the death of its original owners in the 19th century. Upon her arrival, Dana begins having unsettling visions and nightmares of a mysterious German Shepherd and of Lucas covered in blood. While exploring the grounds outside, Dana finds what appears to be a homemade gravestone engraved with the drawing of a kite, when she sees a light turn on in the house's attic, seemingly of its own accord. Heading upstairs, Dana finds an area of the house not listed in the blueprints, a room whose entrance is blocked off by a large armory. With David, she manages to push the cabinet out of the way, only to find a locked door. Dana finds the key hidden atop the door frame, and enters the room alone the next day, only for the door to suddenly close and lock of its own accord. Dana experiences a vision of a young girl being tormented by her father and his German Shepherd, and subsequently suffers a nervous breakdown..