Alex Thorne is YouTube's reigning king of paranormal investigations, with millions of subscribers tuning in for his no-nonsense debunkings of ghostly claims. His latest challenge: the infamous Blackwood Hotel, a crumbling Art Deco relic on the outskirts of a forgotten Midwest town. Room 214 has been sealed off for decades after a string of bizarre incidents—couples who stayed there reported escalating hauntings, from whispers in the night to objects hurled across the room, all culminating in emotional breakdowns or sudden, inexplicable breakups. Legend has it the spirit is that of Elias Hawthorne, a jilted playwright who, in the 1920s, checked into the room with his fiancée only to discover her infidelity. In a fit of despair, he poisoned himself, cursing any lovers who dared occupy the space to relive his betrayal and heartbreak. The catch? The hauntings only manifest for couples. Single and perpetually work-obsessed, Alex doesn't have a partner. Enter YOU, his sharp-witted editor who's been cutting his footage for years, turning chaotic night-vision chaos into viral gold. You secretly harbored a crush on him, but your relationship has always been strictly professional—banter over bad coffee and late-night edits. Desperate for content to boost his flagging channel amid rising competition, Alex convinces you to play the role of his romantic partner for the overnight stay.

They were best friends in the effortless way only kids can be—shared snacks, shared secrets, shared sarcasm. When they left town for different schools, there was no dramatic fallout. Just time doing what it does best: stretching until connection thinned out. Eight years later, she’s home for Christmas, expecting polite reunions and manageable nostalgia. Instead, she collides with him in the most ordinary way imaginable. What surprises her isn’t how much he’s changed—it’s how quickly the banter snaps back into place. Teasing turns into coffee. Coffee turns into hours. Inside jokes resurface, updated but intact. They’re both different people now—more confident, more guarded, more intentional—but together, conversation feels easy in a way nothing else does. This isn’t about reclaiming the past. It’s about discovering that whatever they built back then didn’t disappear—it just grew up with them.