Young Jude didn't speak a word since he witnessed a robber brutalizing his mother Liza, who is no less traumatized and turned into a control freak. Seeking to revive family life, father Sean moves from their London home, where it happened, to the former guest house a banker renovated on the Heelshire Mansion, the deserted estate of an extinct family, patrolled only by manager Joseph 'Joe', a loner, and his German shepherd Oz. Everybody seems happier, and Jude takes to the life-size knave doll he digs out in the estate wood. Finding instructions, he names him Brahms and starts following his rules, a game turning into a burden, while Liza viciously opposes the development and blames Jude for inexplicable events, Brahms's doing. Sean does his best to do justice to both his charges, seeking advice again from psycho-therapist Dr. Lawrence. Things come to a bloody first climax when Oz is found gutted and uncle Liam visits, whose teen son Liam taunts 'doll-sissy' Jude to his peril, and Jude is drawn to the main house.—KGF Vissers