Months after the housing bubble bursts in 2008, newlyweds Emma and Rachel move into a charming house in a conservative college town, hoping for a fresh start after a painful miscarriage.

As Rachel immerses herself in her new role as a professor and bestselling novelist, Emma struggles in the shadow of her wife's success. The house soon becomes a refuge, until strange occurrences make Emma question whether she and her wife are truly alone.

They aren't.

Charlotte and Dirk, the former homeowners whose lives were upended by foreclosure, are secretly living in the attic. Dispossessed by the recession and anxious about her husband's declining health, Charlotte clings to the hope that her estranged son will return to the home they lost.

As she waits, she listens to the new occupants below, her resentment growing as she witnesses the life she once had slipping further away. Determined to reclaim her home, Charlotte climbs down from the attic at intervals to sabotage the interlopers.

But when her campaign to drive out the couple goes too far, Charlotte's and Emma's stories converge in an explosive climax, revealing the lengths people will go to, to reclaim what they've lost.