Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses addiction, domestic violence, self-harm, suicide, and torture.

Margaret and Hal purchase a stately old Victorian house just after their daughter Katherine leaves for college. Both Margaret and Hal had difficult childhoods. Each came from a family that moved frequently, and their homes varied depending on their family’s current circumstances. When they first married, they hoped to purchase a home of their own: a large old house in which Hal would write masterpieces, Margaret would paint in a sun-dappled studio, and Katherine would play blissfully in an idyllic yard. Instead, they struggled and moved around just as they were forced to do when they were children. Even so, they eventually found career success, and they are now excited to tour a Victorian home for sale. They are so excited that they barely listen to the realtor disclose that a series of deaths took place in the house over the years. They also fail to notice that the realtor will not walk into the house’s basement. Margaret gets an uneasy feeling in the basement, but she easily dismisses it because she believes this to be the house of their dreams.