Plot: Curtis and Samantha LaForche live in rural northern Ohio with their young adolescent, deaf daughter Hannah LaForche. Theirs is a close-knit Christian community. Samantha, a stay-at-home wife and mother which allows her to prioritize her time on Hannah, earns extra income by doing sewing for their neighbors and selling things she makes at craft fairs, they relying on Curtis' job for a drilling company not only for its income but more importantly for its generous extended health benefits which in combination and still at great financial expense to them will allow them to get a cochlear implant for Hannah, the surgery scheduled for six weeks' time. One night, Curtis has a nightmare, it of a massive storm producing a golden oily rain followed by an act of violence as a response to the storm. Each successive night he has versions of this same nightmare, always with a massive storm and its golden oily rain followed by a resulting act or threat of violence. During this time, he also notices unusual natural occurrences during his waking hours which only he seems to be experiencing, he unable to distinguish between reality and the nightmares when they are happening, he waking up in a cold sweat from the nightmares and being able to feel the effects of those violent acts in the nightmares for the remainder of the day. He doesn't tell Samantha of anything through which he is going. He tries to remove the perpetrators of those violent acts from his life, they more often than not friends and/or loved ones. He begins to think that he is suffering from mental illness, specifically schizophrenia, he having a family history of it, his mother Sarah who was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic twenty-five years ago and who still lives in assisted care. Regardless, he still can't help but believe that an apocalyptic storm of some sort will occur, his daytime visions and nightmares signs of it. As such, he begins to prepare for the storm, the largest and most expensive manifestation of his preparations being to shore up the existing storm cellar in their back yard. While Samantha had previously noticed Curtis' unusual behavior and actions - he who was able to slough that behavior off as the manifestation of a proverbial cold - that behavior and those actions begin not only to alienate her but also all his friends and colleagues. But what if what Curtis is experiencing is not mental illness but truly a prediction of the apocalypse to come?
Alternative Plot: Curtis LaForche (Michael Shannon) lives in a small Ohio town with his loving wife (Jessica Chastain) and hearing-impaired daughter (Tova Stewart). Though money is tight, he and his family are very happy. But then, Curtis begins having terrifying dreams about an apocalypse that threatens them all. Rather than confiding in Samantha, he begins building a storm shelter in the backyard, and his strange behavior causes tension in their marriage and the surrounding community.
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