Teenagers Nancy, Quentin, Kris, Jesse and Dean are all neighborhood friends who begin having the same dream of a horribly disfigured man who wears a tattered sweater and a glove made of knives. The man terrorizes them in their dreams, and the only escape is to wake up. But when, one by one, they start dying violently, the friends realize that what happens in the dream world is real, and the only way to stay alive is to stay awake.

After losing his wife during the birth of his second child, Levi is thrust into raising two young girls, alone. However, when forced to borrow money from a ruthless loan shark, he must fight to save his family and the home his family was made in.