[1] The story is about a woman whose husband dies of a heart attack while she is handcuffed to a bed, and, following the subsequent realization that she is trapped with little hope of rescue, begins to let the voices inside her head take over.

Realizing her husband is deliberately feigning ignorance and that he intends to rape her, Jessie lashes out, kicking Gerald in the stomach and groin.

Guided by these voices, Jessie realizes that Goody's advice to wait for rescue stems from a subconscious belief that she deserves to be trapped in this situation, even if it means her death.

She remembers an inexplicable event in the aftermath of the abuse, during which she experienced a momentary psychic connection with an unknown woman (Dolores Claiborne).

Waking from an imaginary confrontation with all these characters to a dark bedroom, Jessie sees a tall, gaunt apparition whom she initially mistakes for the spirit of her long-dead father and whom she nicknames "Space Cowboy" (after a 1969 Steve Miller song).

Refreshed and encouraged by her own ingenuity in getting the water, she renews her efforts to escape, first by trying to break the headboard, then by trying to slip off the bed and push it to the bureau where the keys are placed.

To free herself, Jessie writes to the real Ruth, with whom she has not spoken in decades, detailing what really happened at the lake house and subsequent events.

The "Space Cowboy" had turned out to be a serial killer and necrophile named Raymond Andrew Joubert who had been robbing and squatting in lake houses in the area.

[3] In October 2016, Deadline reported that Carla Gugino and Bruce Greenwood would star in the film as Jessie and Gerald Burlingame.