 Little Alice Daley is mauled to death by a German Shepherd dog in the yard of her father Patrick's veterinary practice.After her death, Patrick and his wife Louise, a pharmacist, move to a rural village called Wakewood, where they struggle to cope with the loss of their only child (Louise cannot have any more children).The couple's car mysteriously breaks down one evening in the middle of nowhere and they go to the nearby house of Patrick's veterinary colleague, Arthur, to seek help.