A troubled private investigator is drawn into the search for a missing young girl and uncovers a supernatural conspiracy lurking deep in the forest, where the veil between worlds is thin.

SYNOPSIS:

A young family of three set out on a peaceful morning hike along a national forest trail—JACKIE and RYAN DUNN and their daughter of nine, MADELINE, who is clutching her prized camera. Madeline has autism and doesn't speak, but is able to communicate her enthusiasm to explore and photograph the forest. Madeline's parents allow her to run ahead of them and out of their view, but when an unnerving silence falls around the parents... they realize something is very wrong. Ryan and Jackie race along the trail to catch up, but discover only a disturbingly placid and empty lake vista; Madeline is nowhere to be found. A void left where their daughter should be... Ex-FBI-agent-turned-private-investigator, VANESSA "VAN" IDE sits on a psychiatrist's couch undergoing hypnosis therapy. Van is reliving the devastating memory of an attempt on her life, resulting in a horrific car crash and the ultimate loss of her first pregnancy late-term. The trauma and suffering consumes Van, yet she feels it is through this pain that she is able to keep the memory of her unborn son alive. Out of the blue, Van is contacted by her ex-bureau partner, and former lover, NICK CHAMBERS. Nick seems troubled as he makes an odd request for Van to surveil him while he works a local case—Madeline Dunn. Exceedingly anxious and short on sleep, Nick describes to Van the possible conspiracy surrounding certain cases of missing people. Nick relays the story of a now-missing fellow agent, RAYMOND, whose obsession with finding the truth may have cost him everything. With Nick certain he is being followed and convinced he is becoming a target himself, Van begrudgingly agrees to his request with the hope of assuaging his fears.

The search for Madeline is now underway, being led by park manager AUGUST WOODBRIDGE and assisted by canine handler MARGARET. There is a hint of familiarity for August and Margaret in this disappearance, yet August hides it behind a veil of ignorance and bluster. Both Ryan and Jackie Dunn refuse to leave the scene until their daughter is found. Van begins her background surveillance for Nick at his local motel room and the trailhead; she grows more curious and invested in Madeline’s case whilst developing a deepening concern for Nick's mental state. Van comes across the distraught Dunn parents and witnessing their desperate plight for finding their missing child resonates with her on an intrinsic level. Van feels compelled to also offer Jackie and Ryan her expertise. As Van digs for answers, she butts heads with August who feels any outside assistance is unwelcome. However, Van uncovers that August's knowledge of the situation is greater than he is letting on. Van begins to experience strange goings-on including an odd interaction with a creepy old cowboy, whose motel room in next-door to Nick's. Whatever is behind Madeline's disappearance is now aware of Van's involvement; she has a terrifying home-visit from an other-worldly woman, whose presence is a supernatural warning for Van. Van discovers that Nick no longer works at the FBI and is currently going rogue on his investigation. She hunts him down and confronts Nick with the facts and demands answers. Nick breaks down and laments his decision to have ever brought Van into the mess he now finds himself in. Van insists that she will not leave him to go through this alone, the way she did when she lost the baby—Nick’s baby. Nick succumbs to Van’s demands, and shows her a self-surveillance video of a nighttime visitation from a strange coyote—the animal engages with a sleepwalking Nick at his motel-room door while standing on its hind legs.... Van spends the night with Nick; he is too terrified to be alone and they fall into old habits, making love. During the middle of the night Van awakes to Nick standing by the open door to the room—he is in a trance-like state. Van springs to action when she discovers the strange coyote is now in the motel-room. Nick, perhaps no longer operating under his own volition, grabs Van as she tries to escape. In the subsequent struggle, Van is knocked unconscious. Van now finds herself in a surreal dream, being pursued through the forest by a pack of wailing coyotes. Nick is also with her, yet he is unable to escape the coyotes and is taken down by them. The coyotes tear the skin from Nick and in a horrifying transformation, a coyote form of his own is revealed beneath the torn flesh. Madeline appears and is now able to speak. In the forest dream state Van is in, Madeline invites her to join her in the place Madeline now resides. The young girl steps through a swirling vortex of leaves that appears behind her and is gone once more. Van awakens to find herself actually in the forest, cold and half naked. Was it indeed a dream that she experienced….? Margaret discovers Van and renders aid, driving her back to the motel. During the ride, Margaret informs Van that Madeline's disappearance is not a one-off and that she believes an ancient supernatural force within the forest is responsible. She then tells Van a story of a childhood friend who went missing under similar circumstances and warns if the missing people lose their connection to this world, they will never return. The term used by her people for this phenomenon: into the trees...

Back at the motel, a desperate Van searches for clues amongst Nick's belongings and answers his phone as it buzzes beneath the bed. The mysterious voice on the other end turns out to be MARTIN, the obsessed ex-FBI agent that Nick inherited the mysterious missing persons cases from. Van convinces an unwilling Martin to meet with her. She shows up at his eerily local address and finds him disheveled, still obsessed with the missing persons cases and full of dire warnings for Van—if she continues down this path, she too will become lost. At a loss for what to do next, Van is further deflated by the news that the search for Madeline has been called off. When all seems lost, the discovery of a link to the creepy old cowboy at Nick's motel sends Van hurtling toward a confrontation. The cowboy invites Van to join him in the forest and he delivers his final words through a smile of canine-like teeth, not unlike a coyote.... Van heads into the forest, alone and in the dark where she soon finds what she seeks—a coyote, walking on its hind legs, leads Van to a spinning vortex of leaves. The portal to another world … Van crosses over. The other world is a desert wasteland, and Van struggles with the enormous pressure from the thick and heavy gravity of this dimension. The coyote continues leading Van to the lair of the old cowboy. The old cowboy is a shapeshifter and takes on many forms in order to toy with Van. One thing is clear though, this is his world and he is in charge. Van doesn't fall for the cowboy's deceiving ploys to trap her in this world however, even when he presents her with the embodiment of her unborn son—now 3 years old. Van is able to coax Madeline out into the open using her prized possession—her camera. With the last-minute aid of another coyote (Nick), Van is able to escape the other dimension with Madeline in-tow. August reunites Madeline with her parents after finding her struggling to keep her head above water in the lake. The moment is bittersweet as the FBI immediately express their desire to question the young girl, and reveals that Van's location is unknown. Months later, a now-pregnant Van seems happy… yet something is off … something doesn't feel right. Did Van actually make it out of the other dimension, or is she stuck in the other world … having succumbed to the old cowboy’s trap?

INTO THE TREES