The Keeper

Twelve-year-old James Anthony McNichols narrates his family's cross-country move from Somerset, Texas, to Brentville, Oregon, where his mother, Marina Ruiz-McNichols, has accepted a position as an assistant professor. His father, Chris McNichols, is a computer analyst. James resents leaving his best friends, Beto and Mike, and mourns his maternal grandmother, Ita, who died 44 days before the move. His ten-year-old sister, Ava, and their dog, Baxter, complete the family. At their new house on Pine Circle, a close-knit neighborhood, Mrs. Benson, the family's real estate agent, welcomes them and announces a community barbecue in their honor.

James resolves to behave so his parents will return his confiscated phone, which holds irreplaceable videos of Ita's stories and consejos, or advice, recorded at her hospital bedside. He helps his mother unpack Nahua artifacts, cultural objects tied to her research on Indigenous Mexican history. Despite his efforts, a prank war with Ava escalates: Ava salts James's hot cocoa, and James retaliates by hiding her muñecas, or dolls, around the house. He later makes peace, and the two walk Baxter past a group of kids playing pickup baseball. The pitcher, Jack, challenges James to bat, and James hits a home run, impressing the team, which includes Stephanie, Beth, and several others. They invite him to join, and he bonds with the group over the following days.

During this time, James finds an ancient-looking envelope sealed with wax. The letter, signed by someone calling themselves the Keeper, claims to be the last Guardian of the house, questions whether James is worthy, and warns that the author is watching. James assumes Ava wrote it and throws it away. Before the next practice, Ava coats the inside of James's glove with petroleum jelly, and he strikes out for the first time in two seasons. Seeking revenge, James builds a giant spider costume for Baxter, but the prank goes wrong when Baxter escapes during the neighborhood barbecue. Families scatter as the costume's beanbag abdomen bursts, pelting food and the koi pond with pellets. The community cleans up without complaint, and Mr. Brent, an elderly descendant of one of the town's Founding Families, consoles James.

A second sealed letter appears in James's bike spokes after a windstorm, warning that the Blood Moon, a total lunar eclipse, is approaching and everyone will be in danger if James does not act. The siblings take both letters to their parents, who dismiss them as pranks, so they investigate on their own. In the den, they discover a trap door leading to a dusty basement. While James reaches for a box on a high shelf, the light goes out, the trap door slams shut, and a heavy bookshelf topples onto him. He escapes with scrapes but suspects foul play, having heard footsteps before the shelf fell.

The siblings turn their attention to Mr. Morris, a reclusive older neighbor. They visit Morris's daughter, Betty, who confirms her father obsessively patrols the neighborhood. During the visit, Morris mentions seeing James on the roof at night, a habit James has adopted for solitary reflection, and the remark unsettles both siblings. Following vultures into the woods, James and Ava discover a small, ancient cemetery with over 20 tombstones. James spots a hooded figure watching them through binoculars. Baxter chases the stranger into a ravine, revealing Ms. Phillips, the head of the homeowners' association. That night the siblings overhear Phillips on the phone saying she followed the children but found nothing wrong. Later, during a rainstorm, the branch beneath James snaps cleanly, as if sawed, and he falls. His father confirms the break looks deliberate. Phillips leaves town the next morning.

Ava discovers that Brentville has been mysteriously immune to wildfires, mudslides, and economic downturns for generations. James researches the cemetery names and finds that four of the buried individuals were children aged nine to 11 who died exactly 25 years apart, each during a total lunar eclipse. A third letter flies in through the kitchen window on a gust of wind, asking if James will present himself willingly. The magical delivery forces James to accept that supernatural forces are real. Shortly after, a garage door cable snaps as James enters Mr. Morris's garage, and the door slams down. Ava pulls James backward just in time, saving his life.

On the morning of the Blood Moon, Ava visits the university library and discovers that the family's house burned down a hundred years ago, killing a boy, and that many children on Pine Circle have suffered accidents over generations. That same day, a neighbor named Mrs. Martin lures James into her basement under the pretense of cleaning a dog kennel. Once inside a large iron cage, she locks the door. Mr. Martin declares that the Keeper tested James with three letters and three obstacles and that James proved worthy. Ava tracks James and climbs through a window, but the Martins capture her too. They explain that every 25 years, during the Blood Moon, the Founding Families sacrifice a courageous child to Mother Nature, who grants divine protection over Brentville's environment in return. One past forced sacrifice nearly destroyed the Keeper's power; James realizes that child was the boy who died when their house burned.

When the cage opens, the siblings fight free: Ava bites Mrs. Martin's arm, and James kicks Mr. Martin down the stairs. They lock the basement door and flee through the house, finding a shrine room with a black box holding a blue crystal. James pockets the crystal, and they escape into the rainy woods. Mr. Morris finds them with his Great Danes, Peanut Butter and Jelly. A retired forest ranger, Morris reveals he lost his son, Seth, 25 years earlier during a full moon. Seth sensed evil in the cemetery, went to investigate, and vanished. Morris swore to patrol the woods and never let the community take another child, and he guides the siblings home.

There they find Sheriff Ben Michaels; the Martins have accused the children of vandalism. After the sheriff leaves, the Johnsons, Stephanie's parents, arrive feigning concern and serve tea laced with a sedative. James's parents fall unconscious. Someone traps James in the attic, and through the window he sees the Johnsons hauling Ava into the darkness. James squeezes out the window, climbs down, and rides his bike toward the woods.

At the cemetery, the Founding Families stand around a fire and a tiered altar, with Ava bound. A white barn owl, or lechuza, watches from a branch, comforting James with memories of Ita's stories about ancestral guardians. He fires a Roman candle from a tree, scattering several cloaked figures, and frees Ava, but the remaining members recapture them. Mrs. Benson reveals herself as the Keeper, explaining she identified James years ago and orchestrated his family's move to Brentville. Three members activate red, yellow, and green crystals on the altar, manifesting fire, air, and earth. The blue crystal in James's pocket, representing water, vibrates intensely. Using a Swiss Army knife from the attic, James cuts Ava's ropes and she cuts his. They smash the crystals with rocks, and the coven members collapse as their power drains. Ava restrains Mrs. Benson and the others, and Mr. Morris arrives with his dogs to stand guard.

James's parents, having awakened, arrive in separate vehicles, his mother calling 911 on the way. In the aftermath, every member of the Founding Families is arrested for kidnapping. Jack texts James to apologize, clarifying that he, Stephanie, and teammate Beth had no knowledge of their parents' actions. James forgives him. Ava says she wants to protect the local environment, while James wants to learn about the stars. James notices his mother wearing Ita's moonstone owl pendant, a symbol of the Tlātāhuihpochtin, the luminous ones, representing the idea that people always have the choice to be a light in the world. The family toasts with chocolate de olla, a traditional Mexican hot chocolate, and looks up at the clearing sky together.