Risa Saraswati is a girl who lives with her rich and busy mother Elly, who works as a teacher. Her father, meanwhile, works overseas, and only visits once every six months. She is displayed as an
introvert due to the miserable
broken home she lives in. Her mother does not celebrate her eighth birthday. Thus, she celebrates it herself, wishing for new friends to cope with her loneliness. Suddenly, she hears a boy singing "Boneka Abdi," a
Sundanese song that is claimed to be an invitation for ghosts. She then sees a group of
Indonesian-speaking Dutch children: Peter, Janshen, and William, who died during the
Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies and can only be seen by Risa. Upon request by Elly, the
shamanist Asep explains to Risa that her ability is due to another ability to smell
danur, the scent of the dead.
Gaslighted, she sees the kids in their dead forms, scaring her and prompting her to forget about them. Nine years later, Risa goes back to her childhood house with her little sister Riri and cousin Andri, assigned by Elly, now overseas, to take care of her dying grandmother until a nurse arrives. Whilst playing around the house, Riri discovers a
ficus tree once warned to Risa by the kids to never approach it. That night, nurse Asih arrives at the house, and Risa starts feeling suspicious towards her, especially after she gets along with Riri instantly. Andri says that he is unable to see Asih, concluding that Asih is a ghost. Amidst a supernatural sabotage, Asih kidnaps Riri, and attacks Risa's grandmother and Andri, knocking them unconscious. Risa calls Elly and reports Asih's malice. She later plays "Boneka Abdi" on her dusty piano, bringing the kids back, who travel with Risa to the spiritual realm, where Asih drowns Riri in the bathtub. Simultaneously, Elly meets Asep, who tells her that Asih was a woman who committed suicide after
killing her newborn baby produced through
zina. Asih's spirit roams around the world, searching for children that can replace her murdered child. By placing Asih's comb in the ficus tree and stabbing its roots, Risa and the kids succeed in rescuing Riri. The next day, everyone moves away from the house. However, Risa insists that she will never forget her ghost friends. Later, a girl finds Asih's comb, and it is hinted that Asih's spirit is reawakened. == Cast ==