The quiet suburb of New Salem is being terrorized by a brutal serial killer who abducts and tortures young women, holding them captuve for weeks before murdering them. Aubrey Fleming (
Lindsay Lohan), a talented pianist and aspiring writer, appears to be his latest victim when she disappears without a trace during a night out with friends.
Then, late one night, a driver discovers the young woman by the side of a deserted road, disheveled and critically injured, pleading for help. The girl is rushed to the hospital, where Aubrey's distraught parents, Susan (Julia Ormand) and Daniel (Neal McDonough), wait by her side as she slips in and out of consciousness. When she is finally able to speak, she shocks everyone by claiming to be a down-on-her luck stripper named Dakota Moss who has never heard of Aubrey Fleming.
Convinced Aubrey is suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, her doctors, parents and law enforcement officials can only wait for rest and therapy to restore her memory. But after returning to her parents' suburban home, she continues to insist that she is not who they think she is, despite bearing bizarre wounds identical to those of the serial killer's previous victims. The FBI agents are further mystified when they search Aubrey's computer and discover a short story about a girl with an alter ego named Dakoa.
Confused and terrified, Dakota starts seeing visions of a menacing figure slowly butchering his captive. Convinced that time is running out both for Aubrey and herself, Dakota confronts Daniel with a shocking truth that leads them on a frantic hunt for the killer.