In the past, Natalie meets Shannon at a coffee shop. Natalie is 30, newly pregnant with her fifth child, and her Instagram account has just passed two million followers. Shannon explains that her friends see Natalie as a feminist icon whose lifestyle represents freedom from the maze of traditional corporate structures. Impressed by her rhetoric, she hires Shannon.

A week later, Shannon arrives at Yesteryear and tours the ranch. She notes the house is smaller in person and learns she will share a cramped bedroom with two nannies. When they visit Caleb in the fields, Caleb makes odd comments about rats in New York. As Shannon photographs the hired workers, the mechanical sound of the camera makes Natalie realize she has made a mistake.

On a frigid mid-December day, Natalie sees Old Caleb and Abel approaching with two young bearded men. She feels both terror and recognition. The men walk past without addressing her, though the taller man looks at her blankly. Natalie feels her mind splitting and wonders whether this is a test from the Lord or a missed opportunity for freedom. She vomits.

The morning after Shannon’s arrival, Natalie works out a plan to fire her, but then she finds Shannon already filming in the kitchen, having bonded with the nannies overnight. Shannon’s video work is far superior to Natalie’s previous efforts, and over the following days she convinces Natalie to film chaotic, candid content, editing everything into peaceful clips. During a hillside picnic shoot, Shannon’s footage makes it appear that Clementine is enjoying time with Natalie.

After the shoot, Natalie admits her content is a curated highlight reel offering followers escapism rather than the full truth. When Clementine asks Shannon about having children, Shannon reveals that she doesn’t feel an urgent need to become a mother. Instead, Shannon wants to travel and see the Pacific Ocean. Clementine doesn’t understand what an ocean is, revealing major gaps in her education. For the next several months, Natalie and Shannon exist in tension, each wanting the other’s approval. When Natalie gives birth to her fifth child, Junebug, she instructs Shannon to film it.

Natalie observes the two young neighbors helping Old Caleb replace fence sections. Though she believes only the Lord can retrieve her from this place, the presence of the men distracts her, and she cannot help watching them.

Natalie attends Doug’s presidential bid announcement. A street preacher proclaims that God has appointed Doug, using rhetoric Natalie recognizes from Caleb’s conspiracy forums. In the VIP room, Doug appears nervous, while Amelia looks gaunt. When Doug catches Shannon secretly filming them, Natalie intervenes, claiming the footage will not be shared.

Doug’s speech gathers widespread support. Shannon tells Natalie the speech was terrifying and notes that Doug quoted Natalie’s Instagram captions. When a fan interrupts, Shannon disappears. Panicking about Shannon’s access to her online accounts, Natalie eventually finds her already asking Caleb about the online forums he frequents.

One evening, Mary stares out the window at the taller neighbor. Realizing Mary has a crush, Natalie warns her that she is too young for marriage. Mary invites the neighbors to dinner and prolongs the meal. Natalie realizes that if Mary marries and leaves, she will be alone. Breaking her usual silence, Natalie questions the neighbor about his farm, then suddenly announces she is being held captive and asks if they will help her. No one reacts; Old Caleb and the neighbor calmly discuss the chicken coop.

Four months pregnant with her sixth child and gaining 30,000 followers a week, Natalie notices Shannon talking discreetly with Nanny Aimee, walking with Clementine, and lunching with Caleb. She ignores these signs because she needs Shannon. When Caleb asks whether they really need two nannies, Natalie realizes another woman has gained control of the ranch. That night, Caleb tells Natalie that they need to talk.

Mary wakes Natalie, reporting Maeve is sick. Natalie reflects on the previous day’s tragedy: A predator killed all but one of the chickens. Because she plans to escape before her pregnancy shows, Natalie dismisses Mary’s concerns.

Caleb admits to Natalie that he has confessed his love for Shannon and plans to move with her to New York. The next morning, Natalie confronts Shannon, who admits the relationship developed while she was debunking Caleb’s conspiracy theories. Shannon says that she isn’t wrecking a home, but a business, and that Natalie’s children will grow up hating her. When Natalie taunts Shannon about Caleb’s erectile dysfunction, Shannon asks with concern whether Caleb just fails to maintain an erection with Natalie. The question wounds Natalie deeply. She physically assaults Shannon. Outside, dizzy and seeing double, Natalie encounters her son, Samuel.

Hiding in the pantry, Natalie calls Doug, confessing the altercation and insisting Caleb must run for office immediately. Doug plans to offer Shannon money while announcing Caleb’s candidacy within a week. During the call, Natalie accidentally voices her contempt for Doug aloud and apologizes. Doug hangs up.

Maeve lies feverish in Natalie’s lap, clutching a feather from her dead chicken. Mary fears for her sister, but Old Caleb dismisses the illness. Natalie realizes she cannot abandon the girls while Maeve is sick. After Old Caleb leaves, she asks Mary if she knows where to find a doctor. Mary whispers yes.

In a fragmented montage, Natalie recounts the pressures she faces on the eve of the scandal: PR questions, Clementine asking Natalie about the “tradwife” concept, and frustration with her artificially molded existence. The sequence ends with Caleb’s excitement about running for office and their shared prayer. That night, Natalie worries that she has missed something important.

Mary packs provisions for Natalie’s journey to find Maeve a doctor. Realizing she will never return, Natalie learns Mary allowed her to believe that there were multiple animal traps to prevent her from escaping; there was only ever one. Mary explains that trails marked with triangles on birch trees lead to the neighbors’ house and promises to tell Old Caleb that Natalie has a fever. When Mary tearfully asks if Natalie will return, Natalie lies and says yes. She leaves the ranch and walks into the woods.

Before dawn, Natalie realizes Shannon gave Clementine a phone to record evidence. She confronts Clementine, who denies having it and challenges Natalie’s constant phone use. Caleb interrupts with his phone flooded with press inquiries about assault allegations. Natalie tells him to call Doug.

Days later, Doug’s legal team arrives. Shannon has secured a prime-time interview. Hiding in the pantry during tense preparations, Natalie calls Eliza, who confesses that she, not Natalie’s father, had an affair and told her husband to leave their family. When Natalie accuses her of manipulation, Eliza snaps, asking why Natalie cannot be kind.

Walking through snowy woods, Natalie reflects that she never explored this land and thinks about things she meant to do but never did. After hours of walking, she spots a cabin with a blue truck behind it. Above the door, a word is etched: “MANOSPHERE.”

The family and their lawyers watch Shannon’s television interview. Styled to appear vulnerable, Shannon describes the ranch while the interviewer frames her story sympathetically. The interview includes Clementine’s secret footage, which shows Natalie’s abusive behavior and a recording of Natalie ranting viciously. Shannon describes the assault as terrifying and sexually charged. Natalie retorts that Shannon is misrepresenting what happened, but everyone looks at her with shock. Shannon concludes by forgiving Natalie.

Doug confronts Natalie for concealing the truth. Amelia whispers a cutting remark. Upstairs, Natalie’s phone floods with hate messages and death threats; her private number has been leaked. She realizes there is nowhere to escape the hatred.

Natalie enters the cabin and finds a framed photo of her family alongside modern amenities: a hot plate, ramen, a mini-fridge. Following the sound of a radio, she finds the shorter neighbor who visited Yesteryear peeling grocery stickers off vegetables while whistling a hymn. When she asks for help, the neighbor turns and calls her “Mama,” his face contorted. He stands and approaches. Natalie screams and runs into the woods.

Natalie finds Amelia’s old pills and swallows three of them. While they take effect, Caleb enters asking if she hates sex with him because she is gay. Under the pills’ influence, they trade vicious insults. Caleb compares intercourse with her to being with a corpse; Natalie replies death sounds nice. She tells him Shannon would rather die than be with him. Caleb slaps her.

Caleb reveals Doug plans to kill her and stage a car accident. Natalie suggests that Caleb’s plans of running for political office and eloping with Shannon to New York are insincere. She accuses Caleb of wanting to be left alone. She offers to fix everything with Doug, insisting Doug only wants her to be “fixed.” An hour later, she walks down the hallway, believing she is headed toward either salvation or death.

After fleeing the cabin, Natalie walks lost for hours before stumbling back to the ranch. Old Caleb tells her Maeve’s fever broke. He mentions she is not vaccinated. A red Subaru arrives, and a woman who looks exactly like Natalie but with shorter hair steps out. She approaches, makes a sardonic comment about the property, and smiles. Natalie thinks judgment has arrived.