Recently widowed, Penny is now living alone in the apartment she shared with her husband for many years. Her days seem longer than before, and her memory is not as reliable as it used to be. Her apartment, so familiar, seems alive with strange presences and Penny gradually becomes convinced that someone is watching her.
While trying to change a lightbulb, she falls and injures herself. As she regains consciousness, she discovers that arrangements have been made for her to enter a private care facility, Six Cedars. When she tries to protest, she is informed that she agreed to the move years ago. The care home is miles from the city, surrounded by thick forest. After some initial misgivings, Penny begins to feel that her new situation might have its benefits: she has escaped her loneliness, and has people of her own age to talk to. But why are there only three other residents? Six Cedars’s manager Shelley claims that her background in science enables her to provide the most advanced standard of care for older people. Her compassion seems genuine, but though it frightens her to admit it, Penny increasingly suspects that Shelley’s motives may be darker than they appear.
