Synopsis for
The Strangers (2008) More at IMDb Pro »

The film opens with the following narration: "What you are about to see is inspired by true events. According to the F.B.I. there are an estimated 1.4 million violent crimes in United States of America|America each year. On the night of February 11, 2005 Kristen McKay and James Hoyt went to a friend's wedding reception and then returned to the Hoyt family's summer home. The brutal events that took place there are still not entirely known."

The sound of an engine running plays over shots of homes in a rural neighborhood. We see the interior of a ravaged house, with blood smeared across the walls and a bloody knife lying on a table. A frantic 911 call plays on the soundtrack as two young boys enter the house through the open front door.

The narrative then shifts to the night before, with Kristen McKay and James Hoyt (Tyler and Speedman) arriving at the Hoyt family's isolated summer home. There is obvious tension between the two, and flashbacks reveal that Kristen had rejected James' marriage proposal earlier in the evening. An awkward discussion between the two is interrupted by a loud knocking at the front door.

Image:Thestrangersscreenshot.JPG|thumb|200px|left|Kristen being stalked by "the masked man" while James is gone. James opens the door to find a young woman with blond hair who asks if "Tamara" is home. They tell the girl that no one by that name lives there, and she walks away. James then leaves the house to buy Kristen a pack of cigarettes.

While Kristen is alone in the house, the young woman returns, once again knocking loudly on the front door and asking for Tamara. Without opening the door, Kristen tells her that she has already visited their house and that Tamara is not there. Moments later, she hears a barrage of loud knocks coming from all over the house. She tries to call James, but her mobile phone battery is dead, and it disappears later after she puts it on to charge. Kristen peers out a window where she sees a man with a sack over his head staring in at her. Scared, she grabs a knife and flees into the bedroom.

James arrives home a few minutes later and finds Kristen cowering in the bedroom. She tells him what is happening and they try to flee, but a woman in a white mask smashes their car, ramming it repeatedly with a large pick-up truck. They go back inside and James arms himself with a shotgun. James' friend Mike comes to pick him up, only to be accidentally shot and killed by James, mistakenly believing him to be one of the intruders.

After discussing their options, James leaves Kristen and goes outside to try and reach the barn, where his father keeps an old CB radio. But he's accosted by two of the masked strangers as he tries to make his way across the lawn. Kristen runs outside and makes it into the barn, only to have one of the masked women smash the radio with an axe before she can use it to call for help. Kristen struggles with the woman and runs outside, where she sees the man with the sack over his head walking into the house and the other two masked strangers staring at her. She then runs into the house and hides in the kitchen closet. Then she leaves the closet and runs into the bedroom, she then runs out of the bedroom and gets tackled by the man with the sack mask and is knocked out.

The next morning, Kristen and James wake up tied to chairs. Kristen asks the strangers why they are doing this, and one of the women replies simply, "Because you were home". The three killers take off their masks (though their faces remain off-screen) and repeatedly stab James and Kristen.

As the strangers drive away some time later, they come across the two young boys from the opening scene, who are walking through the neighborhood handing out religious pamphlets. They stop briefly, and the blond girl gets out and takes one of the pamphlets. As the boys enter the house a few moments later, one of them finds Kristen and bends over to touch her. Kristen's eyes snap open, and she grabs the boy's arm and screams.