Immaculate

In present-day Manchester, the late Winter of a new year dulls the city. White skies blot the Sun, robbing warmth to bestow chilling winds and rain. To those trapped by grief, it is a place and time deserved. Hospital porter LOUIS ADAMS and teacher LILIAN BLAKE know this too well: their adopted daughter CAITLYN died suddenly six months ago. Wounds have only deepened from Louis’ trans sister NINA adopting her own teenage son SIMON, and devout father BARNEY planning to move in and disrupt their quiet lives. Above all, the intersex couple are united in empathy, yet bound in guilt and shame, by Genital Mutilation suffered as children. The trauma lingers in infertility, reoccurring nightmares, and profound phantom pain. Haunted by loss and buried in denial, Louis and Lilian are close to giving up on a family: it’s just not meant to be… Until one weekend when androgynous child NOAH is left on their doorstep and their new neighbours commit ritualistic suicide, a bloodied goat's head resplendent before their burning corpses. The police identify them as ARTHUR and DARA GRESS: two old friends and IVF surrogates, believed dead from a freak car accident seven years ago. Stranger still, their Will cites Louis and Lilian as Noah’s legal guardians. Drawing on their adoptive childhoods, the stunned couple take on Noah’s care, assisted by their family and kindly social worker JOHN DAY. But Barney senses an unnerving presence in Noah…he may be right. As Louis and Lilian adapt to their bizarre situation, striking similarities to their pasts appear in Noah’s body and spirit: identical scarring, fragile self-image, even shared nightmares. With Noah’s post-abuse behaviour manifesting in tragic self-punishment, Lilian seeks solace in spiritual teacher FRAN MOLOCH and John’s manager DOMINIC SHAWN, who encourage patience in Noah’s growth. But when unsettling events begin seeping into their lives, bringing forth memories they’d rather forget, Louis confides in Barney, who discloses a worship scrapbook, suggesting Noah may be a cambion: a human-demon hybrid crafting unholy visions to feed off its hosts’ protection. With occult scripture, animal-masked strangers, and Noah’s ‘punishment’ by apparitions of Caitlyn haunting their every turn, the seeds of distrust are planted and the couple clash: she urging rationality, he fearing otherworldly corruption. Addressing Noah’s humanity is undermined by unfurling paranoia: if Arthur and Dara faked their deaths, could Noah be the unborn IVF child conceived seven years ago? As the lines between supernatural influence and psychological fallout blur and threaten their lives, Louis and Lilian must face the long-buried traumas of their past to uncover the mystery behind their haunting...even if it kills them...