Five years after Evelyn dies in childbirth, her ghost is anchored to her husband, Julian. On the night she returns, she finds him with their adopted daughter, Clara—a near mirror image of herself—blowing out birthday candles. Their real daughter, Evie, lies feverish in a cramped room by the servants’ quarters, clutching a ragged doll and believing she killed her mother. Evelyn’s tenderness turns to cold judgment. She cuts through Julian’s excuse—“I went mad because I loved you too much”—and uses her mother Eleanor’s ruthless power to storm the estate. When Evie presses her face to the car window, crying “Mommy,” Evelyn is pinned by the soul contract. She came back for her husband; the one she was meant to protect was the daughter he discarded.
