Horror author Maddie Young lost the ability to
hear and
speak after contracting bacterial
meningitis at age 13, causing hearing loss and temporary
vocal cord paresis which became permanent after an unsuccessful surgery. Following the critical acclaim of her novel
Midnight Mass, Maddie has left
New York City for a solitary life in the woods with her cat, Bitch, though she is struggling to write her next book. Her neighbor, Sarah, visits to return a copy of her novel, and they discuss Maddie's isolation and Sarah's desire to learn more
sign language. Later that night, a masked killer with a
crossbow chases a bloodied Sarah to Maddie's house, but her cries for help go unnoticed and the killer stabs Sarah to death. The killer quickly deduces that Maddie is deaf and decides to make her his next victim. Sneaking inside, he steals her cell phone while she is on a laptop video call with her sister, Max, and takes pictures of Maddie and sends them to her, which she receives on her computer. The killer reveals himself outside, stalking Maddie as she frantically locks her doors, before he cuts the house's power and punctures her car tires. Maddie writes "won't tell, didn't see face, boyfriend coming home" on the glass door with lipstick, but the killer responds by taking off his mask. Upon learning she can
read lips, he threatens to take his time terrorizing her before eventually breaking in. The killer taunts Maddie by using Sarah's corpse to knock on a window, but is distracted when Maddie triggers her car alarm. She opens a window and tries to retrieve Sarah's phone, but the killer returns, and Maddie wounds him in the arm with a hammer before locking herself back inside. She soon slips outside and tries to run, but is forced back inside after narrowly avoiding the killer's crossbow bolts. Attempting to escape through a second-story window, Maddie is shot in the leg, but manages to knock the killer off the roof and steal his crossbow before retreating inside. While a badly wounded Maddie struggles to cock the crossbow, Sarah's boyfriend, John, arrives looking for Sarah. The killer poses as a police officer responding to a call, but John grows suspicious when the killer drops Sarah's earring, which he took as a trophy. Before John can subdue the killer with a rock, Maddie inadvertently distracts him by banging on the window, and the killer fatally stabs him in the neck. A dying John puts the killer in a
chokehold to allow Maddie to escape, but she realizes that if she flees, she will either be caught or bleed to death; her only chance for survival is to fight. Outside, the killer prepares to kill Maddie’s cat, but she shoots him in the shoulder with the crossbow. While racing inside, Maddie drops the last bolt and reaches for it, but the killer slams the sliding door on her wrist, then allows her to pull her mangled hand inside and lock the door. When he threatens to enter the house, Maddie writes "do it, coward" on the door with her own blood. As the killer bashes the door with a tire iron, Maddie uses her laptop to type up a description of the killer and a message to her family, before locking herself in the bathroom, armed with a knife. Failing to break through the door, the killer crashes through the bathroom skylight behind Maddie, unnoticed until he breathes on her neck. She stabs him in the knee and he pursues her to the kitchen, where she blinds him with
insecticide and disorients him with her visual smoke alarm. He begins strangling her, but she impales him in the neck with a
corkscrew, finally killing him. Retrieving her phone from his corpse, Maddie dials
9-1-1 and sits outside with him, smiling as the police arrive. ==Cast==