The film, based on the novel "The Turn of the Screw" by Henry James, tells of mysterious incidents in a villa located on an island in the middle of a lake. Teresa is sent to the villa to educate Milo and Flora, two orphaned children entrusted to Elia, rude man. But upon her arrival, a bereavement upsets throughout her stay: the suicide of the former educator of the children, Eleonora Petri, whose body is found a few days later on the banks of the lake. From then on, Teresa will have strange dreams every night and assist in mysterious apparitions. The various events will bring Teresa to protect the two children and try to discover the mysteries and secrets surrounding the villa and involving all its guests.

An American girl on vacation in Italy finds an unanswered "letter to Juliet" -- one of thousands of missives left at the fictional lover's Verona courtyard, which are typically answered by the "secretaries of Juliet" -- and she goes on a quest to find the lovers referenced in the letter.