BETH spends winter as one of the lone custodians of an isolated northern city, which has been abandoned by most of its residents during a seemingly endless winter, where the sun hasn't shone for months and doesn't appear to ever be returning. These remaining few spend their days watching each other for signs of a debilitating depression, which sends its victim into a zombie-like trance. The “strays,” who wander the empty streets alone, aimlessly, are monitored and collected at a holding facility known as “The Inn”, a place where Beth visits occasionally in search of her father Eric, who has gone missing.
But Beth may have discovered a secret antidote to the illness. Somehow, she has developed the ability to enter an alternate existence within her own dreams, capturing the spiritual energy of those in close physical proximity, and fortifying her own, and the Innkeeper is cautious about Beth’s seeming immunity to the disease. In fact, as everyone gets sadder, she seems to be getting happier.