It's winter Chicago, circa 2010, eighteen-year-old best friends Brianna and Emma, Sunday School teachers, discover a battered case near the site of a horrific car accident. Inside is a peculiar hand puppet with a tuft of red hair and an unnervingly stitched, ever-smiling face. Emma's father, the church pastor, eagerly incorporates the puppet, "Oscar," into the children's ministry, unaware of its sinister power sensed only by Brianna and Emma.

They quickly uncover that Oscar is a master of fear, twisting dreams into waking nightmares and spreading its darkness into the very soul of the church. As Oscar's influence grows, Brianna's latent empathic and telekinetic abilities emerge, unintentionally amplifying the puppet's power.

Reality and illusion blur as Brianna and Emma plunge deeper into the heart of the mystery, racing to unearth the truth and stop Oscar before the malevolence consumes them all.