Sheridan Owen, a young writer exhausted by the launching of his first best seller, escapes for a weekend in the country with his wife Alex. A welcoming rural pub seems to offer an idyllic refuge from a thunderstorm. But the place increasingly bears a resemblance to the setting of his novel. As the uneasy night progresses, bafflement turns to doubt and alarm. Soon the writer realises that he may have to face the terrifying climax of his own story.