Young Penny goes on a retreat with her psychologist; the intention is to help her overcome her phobia, an intense fear of cars. Unexpected events find her in a nightmarish situation where her worst fears come true.

Psychopath Debbie Strand escapes from a mental institution for the criminally insane and takes the identity of a co-ed she meets and sets herself up on a college campus where she once again begins killing students who get in the way of her obsession with her former high school teacher Sam Deckner now teaching at the college.

A sleepy Oregon village turns deadly when Adam, introducing himself as an English professor working on his first novel, befriends Kate and Mike, a brother and sister trying to put their lives back together after the death of their father. The two welcome the stranger, unaware that their actions will lead them down a dangerous path into the mind and grip of a deadly serial killer.

When Debbie Strand is sent to live with her elderly grandmother it is the easiest thing she could have done until things go terribly bad. Her grandmother is too controlling for Debbie and will not let her have a life. Debbie had enough and beats her to death with her cane. Now her eyes are set on her new teacher, Mr. Rinaldi. She finds out that his girlfriend is out of town and erases all her messages on his answering machine. She will stop at nothing to get him even if it means murder. Now the easiest thing for her to do is to kill for what she wants.

Richard, a college student who has decided to focus his attention on the study of fear, invites a group of friends up to his family's secluded mountain cabin for the weekend. Soon, a lifelike, wooden carving of a man begins stalking and killing them.