When Dawn saw her baby boy, Justyn, she felt a love she never thought possible. Her tiny newborn had saved her life, and now she vows to give him the love, support, and care he'd need to grow up healthy and happy. But Dawn quickly finds that motherhood is not what she expected... and that her son is not a normal boy. She notices he is dark and detached, and occasionally, he'd reveal to her fantasies of violence towards his own family. She begins to wonder if her once-happy, sweet boy is evil, but she could never imagine the true terror her son would become as an adult.
In 1995, three brutal murders span Oregon and California, leaving several families shattered and communities terrified. When police identify Robert Acremant as the killer, his father, Ken, is confronted with the reality that his son is not the man he thought he knew. Ken is then forced into making an agonizing decision no parent should have to make - to call authorities and turn in his own son, knowing it will change both of their lives forever. In the aftermath, Robert never forgave his father, leaving Ken to carry the weight of that choice alone.
Jeannette does everything she can to care for her son, Timmy. It is a struggle, but she thought she was doing a good job. Then, his dark side emerges. He is violent, unpredictable, and dangerous. Despite every effort to help her son, she watches helplessly as he spirals into darkness. Exhausted, overwhelmed, and fearful for her family, she plans something unimaginable for any parent: she wants to kill her own son to save herself and possibly others.
When Tim Jones Sr. thinks of his son, he remembers the boy he raised - bright, capable, and full of promise. But that memory is forever stained by blood. Even though he saw the signs that is son was unraveling and tried numerous times to reach him, nothing could prepare him for the horror to come. When his son, Tim Jones Jr., brutally murders all five of his own children, Tim Sr. is left shattered, forced to confront the unthinkable truth about the boy he raised and the evil he never imagined.
As a single mother having overcome a battle with addiction, it's not easy for Charity Lee to raise her son, Paris, and daughter, Ella. Despite what appears to be a loving family and a sibling bond she could have only hoped for, she could never have foreseen the true monster her 13-year-old son was hiding within.
Robert Crimo Jr. sees nothing out of the ordinary in his son's behavior. Dropping out of school at sixteen, watching violent online content, creating rap videos filled with dark imagery - he reads it all as normal teenage rebellion. The fact that police were once called to his ex wife's house after a threat to "kill the entire family" never reaches him... he says he wishes he had known. Instead, he helps his eighteen-year-old son buy a gun, unaware of the devastation it will one day cause: seven dead, forty eight wounded. He insists this could happen to anyone.
Cary Buchanan spent years trying to pull his son, Matthew, back from the edge, hoping his anger and instability would pass. But when his son begins threatening to kill him, he feels he has no other choice than to cut off all communication, believing the best way to put out a fire is to stop giving it fuel. For several years, his theory was right. Then comes the phone call he never expected. "Mom is dead... and Matthew did it," his daughter tells him. But Cary learns that's not all - he might be coming to kill him too.
Sonia Ramirez believes her son, Ignacio, is destined for greatness. He is bright, popular, a natural athlete with dreams of going pro. But as he grows older, something in him shifts. He starts picking fights, breaking the law, lashing out at the people who loved him most. Once, he even tells his mother he sold his soul to the devil. She tells herself it can't be true but is unable to shake the feeling something dark has taken root in him. Still, nothing prepares her for the day that darkness costs her not only her son, but her daughter too.