Nothing has been normal for Teddy, not since discovering the harsh identity of the monster he had been living with his whole life-his own father. Teddy and his mother leave that behind to start over in a small Indiana township. But as Teddy begins to learn of humanity's monsters, he unveils an otherworldly evil he calls "The Shadow." The Shadow tests Teddy's vulnerability and growing sense of isolation, poisoning his mind and conjuring a vile killer-in-the-making.

A year later, Officer Leonard Strode is called in to offer consultation on a case similar to the most brutal and scarring of those he's worked on before. One is the case of Jackie Warren, the other, Theodore "Teddy" Blackwood - two missing children. As he and two other officers follow the trail of clues, Strode is haunted by the ghosts of his own past and is horrified to find them wreaking havoc on his present.

When both Teddy and Strode finally meet face-to-face, they must confront their inner darkness as well or else be consumed by it.