Jason, is bit by a strange organism while on vacation with his girlfriend, Sam, at her sister's secluded farmhouse. The bite begins a transformation in Jason, and now the couple must race against time to figure out what happened to Sam's sister and her family, and what lies in store for them. All of these elements are tantamount to the ultimate fear addressed in the film, the fear of losing a loved one and worse, becoming a monster in their eyes.

A blighted Los Angeles in 2009. Arthur is recently widowed, his savings wiped out by his wife's illness. Their only son is long dead. Alone, Arthur adopts and is adopted by a duckling he names Joe. Saved from suicide, Arthur's life becomes caring for Joe and keeping clean a pond on land near his son's memorial tree. Homelessness awaits Arthur, and although he experiences a great deal of unkindness - from a bus driver, motorists, and animal control officers - he also offers and finds kindness. The pond drained, Arthur and Joe head west on a picaresque journey. Is there room for angels in Los Angeles?

When her husband John has a heart attack while out in a rowboat on the lake, Louise Haloran throws his body overboard and later tells the family that he has left on an urgent business trip. Her main concern is that she can only inherit a part of the family fortune if if her husband is alive. The Halorans are a strange family, still grieving over the death of the youngest daughter Kathleen who drowned in a pond when she was just a child. They hold an annual ceremony of remembrance every year on the anniversary of her death. This year however, someone is wielding an ax intent on murder.