Isabella is a disconnected and angry young woman. Her life was shattered at 13 when her Italian mother died of cancer. Her successful British father Frank, who harbors a painful secret, chose to lose himself with work and outsource Isabella’s care and upbringing to nanny’s, tutors and eventually therapists. Many years later Frank had remarried to a wonderful Italian woman, Claudia, who manages to convince Frank that they all need to get away from work, from the city, from internet and spend a month close to nature on a remote Italian country estate and hopefully reconnect to each other.

The abandoned home of Wilfred Butler, a wealthy but troubled man who committed suicide in 1987, has been willed to his grandson, Jeffrey. The house has sat in disarray since Wilfred's death, standing in the way of developers who want to turn the property into residential homes. Just before Christmas 2012, many years after Wilfred's death, Jeffrey and his lawyer appear in town to negotiate the sale of the property. But an Axe wielding maniac has set up residence in the house, and he doesn't take kindly to strangers.