二战结束，格蕾丝(尼科尔•基德曼)在英伦的小岛上独自抚养着一对儿女，耐心等待着丈夫从战场归来。儿女怕光，受到光照会发病，因此家里的窗帘常年拉得严严实实。就在这样一间阴暗的古宅里，格蕾丝迎来了三个新仆人。这三个人到来之后，却让格蕾丝寒了心——窗帘经常被拉开，门无故打开，钢琴自动发声，而她的女儿说，在房间里经常可以见到陌生男人。格蕾丝陷入了精神紧张的状态，她不明白怪事为何屡屡发生，不明白丈夫为何迟迟未归。而她最后才醒悟，所有的惊恐，其实都来源自身，但是事情已经不可逆转……A woman named Grace retires with her two children to a mansion on Jersey, towards the end of the Second World War, where she's waiting for her husband to come back from battle. The children have a disease which means they cannot be touched by direct sunlight without being hurt in some way. They will live alone there with oppressive, strange and almost religious rules, until she needs to hire a group of servants for them. Their arrival will accidentally begin to break the rules with unexpected consequences.