Peet Finch, an orphaned teen, falls in love with the beautiful cheerleader Wren Wilson under a Summer sky. Unbeknownst to them both, they reside inside a coma. Discovering a secret portal back to reality, Peet learns of Wren’s engagement to Duane, the school jock. Peet hides his secret, ensuring they both remain together. Peet soon regrets his decision, as Wren is kidnapped by crazed mental patients emerging from the woods, led by a demonic entity, Dr. Smile. With the help of children from the nearby hospital, Peet pursues Wren through the encroaching woods into the haunting halls of Blackfork Asylum.

One evening, the tap water turns black. Soon after, Peet and Wren observe a cloaked entity standing on the water tower. Entering the tower, Peet discovers an endless ocean teeming with children’s bodies. [the following is revealed later] Peet dives to a glowing portal door and enters a dim room. He observes himself and Wren, comatose. At her bedside sits the dashingly handsome jock, Duane. As Peet’s ghost nears his own body, he observes the eyes opening, a heart monitor beeping.

Peet flees the water tower portal to tell Wren, but notices an engagement ring on her finger. Knowing his love affair would certainly end upon waking, Peet conceals his knowledge. That night, however, the dementia patients break into their home and kidnap Wren, led by the cloaked entity. Fleeing from the hoard, Peet and Preston races through the woods and enters an abandoned hospital. Peet is soon knocked unconscious by a silhouetted figure.

Peet, Preston, and Simeon journey through the Spiderian Sewer, Neverwood Forest, and up Blackfork Mountain. Preston, however, loses his sanity, begins calling himself “Richard”, and sleepwalks into the night. Peet learns of “soul swapping”, the ultimate goal of the dementia patients: to inhabit the bodies of children, and wake young. Only Peet and Simeon remain as the world turns from a haunting Summer to a bleak and frozen winter at the gates of Blackfork Asylum.

Sneaking through the adult-infested halls, Peet and Simeon find hundreds of patients locked in large bird cages hanging from the ceiling. Claiming to be children from Red Wind, they guide Peet to the attic. Simeon is caught, while Peet finds Wren strapped to an altar. Beginning the “soul swapping” process, an old man attempts to bite into Wren’s shoulder. Peet stops him, and is bitten. After kissing Dr. Smile, the old man enters a birdcage, and is dragged from the attic. Peet and Wren flee from the altar. They follow close behind a line of children sleep-walking from the asylum, through the woods, and to the water tower in Red Wind. Preston, along with the other children, disappear into the tower. Peet and Wren, however, race back to her home.

Peet cares for Wren through a bleak winter — she’s nauseous, bedridden, and suffering from intense stomach pain. Even worse, her bite wound grows infected. At night, she sleep-walks to the water tower, but Peet is sure to lead her back to bed. As her painful pregnancy progresses, her mental stability declines. Peet observes her body from the portal in the water tower — she is visibly pregnant and going brain dead. Ultimately, Peet accepts the truth: unless she wakes, she and Duane’s baby will die.

Peet and carries Wren to the water tower.