The movie opens by introducing Aaron Roberts (8 years old) along with his father, stepmother and grandmother, going on board a small cruise ship, the Corona Queen.
On the bridge of the Corona Queen, the captain and crew discover they are fast approaching a large sonar image, leading to a bizarre, scary, dark cloud formation the ship cannot escape.
Shifting to the present day (25 years later) the grown Aaron Roberts (Judd Nelson) is shown recording the story of the Mary Celeste, as he's become a paranormal researcher.
We are then introduced to Dana Elway (Janet Gunn), an investigative reporter for a paranormal-based show, who finds the story of the Corona Queen being found exciting and newsworthy.
Believing he would add human interest to the story, Dana decides to visit Aaron at his apartment and attempt to convince him to accompany her team to the Corona via helicopter.
The remaining group members find the captain's log, and read that the Corona Queen had entered the mysterious dimension of the Bermuda Triangle.
Before meeting his own tragic fate, the captain wrote that the crew and passengers have been slaughtered, the rest have simply vanished; the children were the last to disappear.
Rewinding the tape several times, hearing the word "son" makes him realize it was his father saying goodbye, and just after this Dana arrives at his door, as they had plans to go out to dinner.