In regional Victoria during the late nineteenth century, young nun Sister Maria is summoned to a remote homestead to provide spiritual guidance to a couple grieving a stillbirth. As she settles into the farm, she quickly senses a dark presence at play: the crops are blighted; the animals are perishing; and swarms of snakes plague the land. Her world is further upended when, while praying for the couple to conceive a new child, Maria instead finds herself pregnant. Believing this pregnancy might be the miracle they’ve hoped for, Maria agrees to give the child to the couple in exchange for their discretion and shelter. But, as the birth draws near and tensions rise, she grows increasingly fearful that she might be harbouring a malevolent force.