An Unwanted Guest

On a Friday afternoon, Gwen Delaney drives her friend Riley Shuter to the remote Mitchell’s Inn in the Catskills for a weekend getaway. A snowstorm makes the drive treacherous. Riley, a war correspondent suffering from trauma after returning from Afghanistan, is noticeably tense. Elsewhere on the road, Lauren Day and her boyfriend, Ian Beeton, drive to the same inn. They discover Gwen’s car in a ditch and offer Gwen and a silent, withdrawn Riley a ride to their shared destination. Meanwhile, criminal attorney David Paley arrives from New York City, seeking an escape from work. Another couple, Beverly and Henry Sullivan, also check in. Beverly hopes the trip will mend their strained marriage, but Henry is immediately annoyed by the lack of cell service and Wi-Fi. A glamorous engaged couple, Dana Hart and Matthew Hutchinson, arrive. The guests are greeted by Bradley Harwood, who explains that the storm has left the inn short-staffed. His father, James Harwood, is the owner and chef.

That evening, the guests gather for cocktails in the lobby, served by Bradley. They introduce themselves and learn they are all snowed in. Bradley mentions one other guest, a writer named Candice White, who has requested privacy. During a buffet dinner, David joins Gwen and Riley’s table, showing a clear interest in Gwen. Riley, a journalist, finds David’s name familiar, and her wary behavior makes him uncomfortable, prompting him to excuse himself after the meal. Beverly and Henry eat in tense silence, with Beverly enviously watching the affectionate Dana and Matthew. Candice dines alone, observing David and the engaged couple. Later, David and Gwen meet in the library, share champagne, and end up spending the night together in his room. Beverly’s attempt to be romantic with Henry is rejected when he tells her their marriage might be “too late.” Upset, Beverly overhears Dana and Matthew arguing in the adjacent room. Late that night, both Beverly and Riley think they hear a muffled scream but dismiss it.

On Saturday morning, Lauren wakes to find the inn freezing cold, the power knocked out by an ice storm. Going downstairs, she discovers Dana’s body at the foot of the main staircase and screams, alerting everyone. The guests gather, and David examines the body, concluding that the death is suspicious and likely not an accidental fall. James confirms the phone lines are also dead, cutting them off completely. David insists they treat the area as a crime scene and leave the body untouched. He and James then break the news to a devastated Matthew. During a tense breakfast, Candice reveals that Matthew is from a wealthy New England family. Riley tells Gwen she now remembers who David is, an attorney who was once arrested for his wife’s murder, though the charges were dropped.

The guests are trapped by the ice storm. David speaks with a grief-stricken Matthew, telling him he believes Dana was murdered. Matthew lies, denying that he and Dana had argued. David advises him to stay in his room until the police arrive. The group decides to search the hotel for a possible intruder. In an unoccupied third-floor room, they find an unmade bed, suggesting a secret guest. In the cellar, they discover a broken but latched window. Back in the lobby, Beverly finally reveals she overheard Dana and Matthew arguing, and suspicion shifts to him.

Later that afternoon, Bradley and Henry clear a path to the inn’s icehouse, a bar made of ice, where the guests gather for drinks. They realize Candice is missing. David, Gwen, and Bradley go to her third-floor room and find it locked. Using a key, Bradley opens the door to reveal Candice’s body on the floor, strangled with her own scarf. The second murder confirms a killer is among them. The terrified survivors decide to stick together in the lobby. After Beverly becomes hysterical, believing a rat is near Dana’s body, they move Dana’s corpse to the icehouse to be sealed away.

That night, paranoia escalates. Lauren accuses Riley of knowing something, prompting Riley to reveal her traumatic past as a war correspondent, including being held hostage, which caused her PTSD. Riley then publicly accuses David of murdering his wife. David recounts the story of his wife’s unsolved murder and his arrest, explaining the charges were dropped for lack of evidence. The conversation then turns to Ian, who tells a story about his younger brother drowning. David senses he is lying. Under pressure, Ian admits he was with his brother and left him alone after a fight, a secret he has kept his whole life. Lauren then confesses she lied to protect Ian; she was not with him the entire afternoon Candice was killed, leaving him without an alibi.

Around 1:00 a.m. on Sunday, an agitated Matthew grabs his gun to hunt the killer, and David follows him into the dark hotel. Soon after, gunshots are heard from the woodshed. Riley, triggered by the sound, panics and runs out into the ice storm. Gwen, James, Bradley, Lauren, and Ian chase after her into the chaotic darkness. During the search, Bradley is killed, struck on the head with a heavy iron boot scraper from the porch. David and James find his body. The group brings Bradley inside and places him in the icehouse. They search for Riley but cannot find her. Back in the lobby, a panicked Henry suggests they kill Ian in self-defense, but David furiously intervenes. As dawn approaches, the power is restored, and Henry is discovered dead in his chair.

With the phone lines working, James calls the police. Sergeant Margaret Sorensen arrives by snowmobile. The police find Riley’s body in the woods; she died of exposure. The forensics team arrives and finds a small diamond earring frozen in the snow beneath where Bradley’s body lay. Sorensen questions Ian, who identifies the earring as Lauren’s. Lauren Day is arrested for the murder of Bradley Harwood.

Lauren’s full story is revealed. She recognized Dana as “Dani,” a girl from a group home where Lauren had killed a boy years prior. Fearing exposure, Lauren confronted Dana on the stairs, pushed her, and then smashed her head on the bottom step to ensure she was dead. Bradley witnessed the murder and left an anonymous note in Lauren’s book. Mistaking Candice for the blackmailer, Lauren strangled her. She then staged the messy, slept-in room to suggest an intruder. Realizing Bradley was the witness, she used the chaos of Riley’s escape to kill him with the boot scraper, losing her earring in the process.

As the survivors prepare to leave, Beverly’s secret is revealed. She had discovered Henry’s affair by accessing his phone. During the hotel search, she stole Lauren’s powerful sleeping pills. Later that night, she secretly poisoned Henry’s scotch, believing his death would be blamed on Lauren, who could not protest her innocence without revealing her own guilt. As she drives away from the inn, a widow, she smiles.