When their father unexpectedly commits suicide, his two daughters receive a mysterious envelope containing three unusual items. First, a classical poem called “The Tree of Pan: A Sonnet,” which recalls the death of that mythical creature. The second, a narrative entitled “Cain and Abel: A Sketch,” compares the legendary Biblical brothers to two boys whom their father knew on a farm in South Dakota in the 1950’s. And the third, a letter from their father, expresses his odd but passionate last request – to spend a weekend in the long-abandoned, dilapidated farmhouse of his childhood.

Intrigued, the daughters honor his last request and travel the 600 miles from Chicago to Beresford, South Dakota. Unnerved immediately by the sinister appearance of the decrepit farmhouse, they nevertheless honor their father’s last wishes and set up camp in the crumbling structure. But when bizarre and dangerous things begin to happen, they start to doubt the wisdom of carrying out this last request. And when it becomes impossible for them to leave the farm, the dark and violent secrets of the past finally come to the surface.