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Writer Ben Rolf, his wife Marian, and their 12-year-old son Davey tour a large, shabby, remote neo-classical 19th-century mansion to rent for the summer. The home's eccentric owners, elderly siblings Arnold and Rosalyn Allardyce, offer them a bargain price of $900 for the entire summer, with one odd request: Their elderly mother will continue to live in her upstairs suite, and the Rolfs are to provide her with meals during their stay. The old woman is obsessed with privacy and will not interact with them, so meals are to be left in her sitting room outside her locked bedroom.

The family arrives at the house with Ben's elderly Aunt Elizabeth. Marian becomes obsessed with caring for the home, and wears the Victorian-era garments she finds in Mrs. Allardyce's suite, while distancing herself from her family. Of particular interest to her is Mrs. Allardyce's sitting room, which contains a massive collection of framed portraits of people from different eras, apparently former occupants of the house. Mrs. Allardyce's meals go mostly untouched, according to Marian. Various unusual circumstances occur during the summer; after Davey hurts himself playing, a dead plant starts to grow again; Ben cuts his hand on a champagne bottle, and a dead light bulb is mysteriously repaired; Ben is haunted by a vision of an eerie, malevolently-grinning hearse driver whom Ben first saw at his mother's funeral years earlier. With each accident that occurs, the house appears to rejuvenate itself, feeding on the family's energy.

Marian slowly becomes possessed by the energy of the house. Aunt Elizabeth suddenly becomes ill and dies, after which the dead flowers in the solarium bloom. When Marian does not attend Aunt Elizabeth's funeral, Ben angrily confronts her about her obsession with the home and decides to leave the next day. Ben later sees old shingles and siding falling away, replaced by new ones as the house restores itself. Now convinced that the house is a living entity, Ben attempts to escape with Davey but a tree blocks the road. He sees Marian as the chauffeur and falls catatonic.

The next day, while Davey is swimming and a catatonic Ben is watching him, the pool water turns into vicious waves, pulling the boy under. Marian rescues her son, and the incident awakens Ben from his catatonia. Marian agrees that it is time to leave but insists on going back inside to inform Mrs. Allardyce. When she fails to return, Ben goes inside to find her. He is horrified when he discovers that the elderly woman upstairs is his wife, who has inexplicably aged. "I've been waiting for you, Ben!" she says. Ben recoils in horror. Waiting in the car, Davey is shocked to see his father plummet from the attic window, landing on the car's windshield. In shock, Davey runs toward the house and is killed when one of the chimneys collapses on him.

Some time later, the Allardyces marvel at the restored beauty of their home and rejoice over the return of their "mother". In Mrs. Allardyce's sitting room, the photo collection now includes portraits of Ben, Davey, and Aunt Elizabeth.

Marian becomes possessed by the house, which uses her to complete its restoration as Ben and Davey fail to escape. The house fully rejuvenates, claiming new victims.

The finale reveals the house as a vampiric entity, thriving on the suffering and lives of its residents. Marian's transformation seals her fate and the family's doom, making the mansion itself the true antagonist. The cycle of entrapment and restoration hints at a legacy of previous victims, underscoring the film's bleak view of obsession and familial collapse.