Finally putting an end to their days as slaves to the hustle-bustle city life, Gothamites Cooper Tilson (Quaid) and his wife, Leah (Stone), pack up their kids and all their possessions and move into a recently repossessed mansion in the sticks of New York State. Once a grand and elegant manor, the house at Cold Creek is now a shambles, but Cooper and Leah have unlimited time to show the house the TLC that it desperately needs. All's well until Dale Massie (Dorff), the house's former owner, gets out of prison, looking to reclaim his birthright by any means necessary. There are two kinds of people in Cold Creek - those who come there, and those who are born there - and Dale quickly shows that one kind always comes out on top, particularly when the house hides a dark secret.