In 1954, U.S. Marshal Edward "Teddy" Daniels and his new partner Chuck Aule travel to the Ashecliffe Hospital, a federal institution for the criminally insane on Shutter Island, to investigate the disappearance of a patient, Rachel Solando, She has escaped the hospital and apparently the island, despite having been kept in a locked cell under constant supervision. Chief psychiatrist Dr. John Cawley refuses to hand over records of the hospital staff, and Daniels and Aule are barred from searching Ward C and told that the
lighthouse on the island has already been searched. The only clue is a note, which reads: "The law of 4; I am 47; They are 80; + you are 3; But who is 67?". While Daniels is questioning Dr. Cawley on how they found Solando, he starts having a migraine. Dr. Cawley gives him pills and invite him to take a nap. Daniels has disturbing dreams of his wife again. Daniels and Aule decide to break into Ward C. While Daniels is searching for Laeddis, a patient in a
solitary confinement calls him by the name of Laeddis. Daniels realizes the patient is his friend, George Noyce, and questions him to find Laeddis. Noyce tells him that it is a setup and he has to accept that his wife is dead and let her go, or else he will never leave the island. He finally tells him that Laeddis has been moved from ward C, and Daniels deduces that he is at the lighthouse. While Daniels and Aule are searching for the lighthouse, Aule disappears and Daniels finds no sign of him. He returns to the hospital to ask Dr. Cawley if he has seen his partner. Dr. Cawley tells him that he has no partner and claims that he arrived alone. During the night, Daniels tries to escape, but he finds the lighthouse, breaks into it and finds Dr. Cawley waiting for him. Cawley explains that Andrew Laeddis is actually Daniels himself. He explains that Andrew Laeddis is an
anagram of Edward Daniels and that he murdered his wife, Dolores Chanal (an anagram of Rachel Solando), two years before after she drowned their three children during a
manic episode. This is the answer of the code "the law of 4" and Laeddis is the 67th patient at Ashecliffe. Andrew refuses to believe it and shoots Dr. Cawley with what he thinks is his gun, but realizes it is a toy
water pistol. Aule then enters and reveals that he is actually Andrew's
psychiatrist, Dr. Sheehan. This setup has been designed to allow him to live out his elaborate
fantasy, in order to confront the truth and accept reality; if he doesn't, he will be
lobotomized. Andrew does not admit the truth. They hold him down and give him medicine. Laeddis awakes in the hospital, under Dr. Cawley's watch. When questioned, Laeddis admits to having killed his wife, which satisfies the doctors as a sign of progress. Nevertheless, Dr. Cawley notes that they had achieved this state a few months before, but he had a
regression and they cannot risk that again. Laeddis swears it will not happen again. The next morning Laeddis sits outside next to Dr. Sheehan and tells him he needs to find a way to get off the island and go home; he has regressed once again, meaning that he will be lobotomized. == Characters ==