Forest ranger Finn Wheeler is assigned to Beaverfield, a small town where the residents are divided over a
pipeline proposed by
natural gas businessman Sam Parker. Upon arriving, Finn seeks a room from Jeanine Sherman, owner of the motel/hunting lodge at the social center of village life; Jeanine is politely dismissing Parker's assurances of the pipeline's benefits and happy to meet Finn. Upon getting a room, Finn befriends perky mail carrier Cecily Moore, who lives free at the lodge in exchange for odd jobs. She hands him his mail: a complaint by Dr. Ellis that Emerson Flint is engaged in commercial trapping. Cecily offers to lead him to his first "case" while she makes her rounds and offers gossip, beginning with the sad story that Jeanine's husband Dave ran off with another woman to Belize. Finn meets the few who live in town:
campy lovers Devon and Joaquim Wolfson, whom Cecily describes as an ex-city, nature-loving, millionaire power couple; blue-collar workers Gwen and Marcus, who expect to make money from the pipeline; conservative conspiracy theorist Trisha Anderson and her unfaithful husband Pete, who had a fling with Gwen and constantly hits on Cecily; and reclusive Emerson Flint, who threatens to shoot Finn for trespassing and seems to hold
sovereign citizen views. Their tasks done, Cecily brings Finn to a rec lounge, The Axe Den, where she dances to jukebox songs and chats him up. Finn reciprocates, but stops before kissing her to take a call from his ex-girlfriend Charlotte, and Cecily leaves in disgust. That night, a blizzard knocks out all power in Beaverfield, forcing the residents to take refuge in Sherman's lodge. The power outage occurs right before Trisha's dog is killed by an unknown assailant, which increases tensions. Further conflict arises when Finn discovers that all of Beaverfield's
generators were sabotaged and the body of Jeanine's missing husband Dave is underneath the lodge's porch. The well-armed residents barricade themselves in the lodge for safety, but Pete is yanked out of bed and has his hand bitten off by the same unknown assailant. Zoologist Dr. Jane Ellis, an opponent of the pipeline, concludes that the assailant is a werewolf who is one of the lodge's current inhabitants. After announcing her findings, Dr. Ellis dies in front of Parker under ambiguous circumstances; Parker claims she committed suicide. Those remaining initially consider staying together in the lodge to force the assailant out of hiding, but there is too much bad blood among them, and ultimately all but Finn and Cecily leave for their homes. Hearing noises from Parker's room, Finn orders Jeanine to hide in her own room and he and Cecily investigate; she sees a newspaper which might implicate Finn as the werewolf, but he finds evidence that Parker sabotaged the generators. In the woods, Devon is struck down; Trisha kills him with a
maple syrup tap, telling him she wants the pipeline money. Parker, now armed with his hunting gear, announces his intention to pursue the werewolf. Joaquim, Cecily, and Finn flee him together, then at the Wolfsons' house they find Marcus with knives taped to his fingers; he boasts that he will steal everyone's possessions and pretend a werewolf did it. Cackling, he races outside, where he is hit by his own truck, driven by Gwen, who is then shot by Trish. Trisha, raving crazily, orders them into her house at gunpoint to kill them, then notices Pete has died on the couch. Joaquim kills her with a fireplace poker, the house goes up in flames, and the trio hurry out. Finn urges them to leave town in Marcus's truck, but Parker stands menacingly in the street. Finn lists Parker's possible motives for killing them: he suspects Cecily; the Wolfsons are blocking his pipeline; and Finn represents legal authority. While he's talking, Joaquim grabs Cecily to kill her due to a superstitious belief indicating that she is a werewolf, but he is then shot by Parker. Nearly all the townsfolk are dead. Finn is attacked by Parker, who accuses Finn of being the werewolf because he worked in locations where previous attacks occurred. Finn counters that there is no werewolf and Parker intentionally caused the paranoia gripping Beaverfield in order to have his proposed pipeline approved. Parker gains the upper hand against Finn, but a dying Joaquim manages to kill him. Back in The Axe Den, Cecily tells Finn to rest while she gets a first aid kit. However, looking around, Finn finds undelivered packages in the back room and Dave Sherman's name tag. He realizes Cecily is the werewolf who killed Dave, Pete, and Chachi. Confronted by Finn, Cecily acknowledges she
turned the residents against each other to make feasting on them easier. She subsequently attempts to kill Finn in her werewolf form, but Finn defeats her with the help of Emerson. Emerson repeats Finn's beliefs about being a good neighbor. Still alive, Cecily makes a final effort to attack Finn and Emerson before Jeanine finishes her off with a crossbow. ==Cast==