The film stars R. H. Thomson and Sheila McCarthy as Hal and Diana Kingswood, a married couple living on Galiano Island in British Columbia in the 1960s with their two daughters, Cleo (Tara Frederick) and Zoe (Aloka McLean).
The Kingswoods seem to live a happy life, though teenage Cleo is frustrated with an inability to do things, like travel to Vancouver to see the Beatles.
A catalyst for change for their somewhat stagnant lives arrives in the form of Anne-Marie, Zoe's new teacher at the school where Hal Kingswood is principal.
Anne-Marie arrives late on her first day of work with all of her belongings packed into her Volkswagen bus and takes up residence in a local cottage.
As Anne-Marie bathes in her wood-fired, outdoor bathtub, she gives Zoe a book of spells, which is ostensibly the mechanism through which change comes to the sleepy little island.
When he chances upon Anne-Marie crying in her bus, he takes a moment to learn more about her, discovering that she abandoned her fiancé at the altar and that her mother calls her every morning to remind her that she is a disappointment.
After Halloween, Zoe and her friend, Jo, see Hal's car parked in front of Anne-Marie's cottage and decide to take a closer peek.