Synopsis

Cathrine Mina, a young woman who has been missing for almost a year, is found shoplifting at a supermarket in the town of Median, Mississippi.

Agent Andrea Rose is briefed by her mentor Agent Erikson about the Median, Ms mass disappearance, and how Cathrine recently reemerged. Andrea is excited to be deployed on her first field mission, even if it is just simply to interview Cathrine, and reinterview a few witnesses. Simple or not, it's still a milestone. The next morning Andrea sets out for Median.

Median is the quintessential American small town; barbeques, children riding their bikes everywhere, everyone knows each other, etc. A time capsule of a “better” time. She stays at The Hayward Inn, a quaint bed and breakfast run by the Hayward family. Andrea does a brief interview with the oldest son, Gregor, and the two get along quite well.

Being an outsider to the small town as well as an authority figure, Andrea gets a mixed welcome. Police Chief Northrup feels particularly threatened by a federal agent, let alone a female federal agent entering his town telling him what to do. Regardless, Andrea interviews Cathrine, who isn’t forthcoming with information. In fact, Cathrine directly tries to avoid giving up any information as much as Andrea tries to get her to speak. Though, she did manage to get some kind of lead, in being told that the students, Cathrine and her friends Mason Seaver and Valentin Farren, weren’t the first to go missing.

Andrea spends the rest of the afternoon going through the station’s archives, taking some of the files back to her room at the Hayward for further study. At the end of the night, Andrea ends up with three new names: Simon Hirsh, Alec Warrick, and Lily Hargrave.

The next morning, Andrea returns to the police station to be told that Cathrine has disappeared. After a tense conversation with Chief Northrup, Andrea sets out to follow her new leads. All of which lead back to one of the previous disappearance cases, Simon Hirsh. Who disappeared for a few months, but, like Cathrine, made a sudden reappearance six months after he initially vanished, a year or so before the students.

Simon lives in an old hunting cabin in the middle of the woods. Andrea is warned by Daniel “Danny” Hirsh, Simon’s older brother, that Simon is an eccentric at odds with the town.

As well as a prime suspect with direct links to all of the recent disappearances.

But without enough information to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, she can’t arrest him. Simon seems to both be very honest, but very paranoid. Speaking of a “Witch of the Woods” and how the town is not to be trusted. Specifically warning against going to the mall.

To which, Andrea upon leaving, heads directly towards the local mall. She investigates the local mall finding no information about the supposed witch, but she does get some more information about Simon and Alec. While walking around, Andrea runs into Gregor. The two talk, which ends in an argument.

When Andrea gets back to her car, she is jumped by various townsfolk prompting her to run away into the woods. After some time and a close call, Andrea comes to meet Lily Hargrave, “The Witch”. Gifted strange powers by a larva growing inside the back of her neck. Lily leads Andrea to an old campground where she, Mason, and Valentin have been staying. The other two students have mixed reactions to Andrea. Mason blames her for Cathrine being caught, but Valentin seems hopeful. The small group seems to be on the verge of falling apart, arguing frequently and harshly, but Andrea finally gets some answers at a meeting with Simon around the fire . There's a monster underneath the mall that is controlling everyone and that Simon and Lily were caught but somehow are free of its control. Mason and Val get into a heated argument about Catherine, causing Mason to storm off. Lily goes after him, while the others stay behind at the fire.

Seeing the group fall apart, Andrea asks Simon to come with her to confront the monster, to protect the group of young adults in over their heads. Meanwhile, Lily and Mason have a heart to heart, reenergizing him. They all regroup and head toward the mall, to face the beast.

Upon reaching the mall, they stop at Andrea’s car and with the things in Andrea’s car and in Simon’s car they gear up. Andrea with her pistol, Simon a shotgun, Val a knife, Mason a bat, and most importantly two gas cans.

They enter the mall and travel through the backrooms. Upon reaching the stairs downward, they see part of the monster for the first time. Pale flesh growing around a door to the basement.

The point of no return.

And yet, they move downward.

The basement is covered in the flesh, confirming that they are on the right track. Lily and Val leave to go on a short side trip at Lily’s request. She wants to go see Alec. The others stay behind to wait for them to get back. Alec is trapped in time inside a blister-like capsule in an old storage room. Lily enters the room, leaving Val in the hallway and speaks to Alec for a bit.

Meanwhile, back with the others, Simon’s brother Danny walks out toward the group, engaging them before a gunfight breaks out. Lily and Val rush back to find Danny dead and Andrea injured, a clean in and out, but she can keep going.

They get to the room at the center of it all, the room with the monster. Simon and Andrea breach the door. Inside, a bunch of townsfolk, including Gregor, are sitting around an old TV with a VHS player attached, playing a golden age sitcom. The pallid flesh growing out of the VHS slot. The floor and walls are covered in cilia.

The creature cries out and the battle begins. The battle is long and there are many close calls, but ultimately the group emerges victorious. Though, at a cost, during the battle while attempting to shoot the monster, Mason shot Cath with the shotgun, accidently killing her.

Otherwise, battered and bruised, injured and confused, Andrea, Mason, Val and the townsfolk clamber into the empty mall. Lily and Simon stay behind. Soon the mall is swarmed by emergency personnel and government agents. Andrea tries to get information from the leader of the agents, The Tall Man, but he tells her to go home.

Lily and Simon spread the gasoline around the monster. Simon urges Lily to go to Alec, while Lily tries to convince Simon to go with her. In the end Simon stays behind to finish things, while Lily rushes to free Alec.

Andrea meets with Erikson to drop off her paperwork and get a new case, similar to the last one. The Tall Man interrupts the meeting with a call, and an offer. Keep working on these cases, and he’ll tell her what she wants. Andrea accepts.

Andrea goes home, finding a letter from Lily. She smiles and begins studying her new case.