It's the summer of 1989. Nine-year-old Ted Henley (Jared Breeze) and his father John (David Morse) are the proprietors of The Mtn. Vista Motel, a crumbling resort buried in the mountains of the American West. Since Ted's mother left, John has drifted into despondency-becoming a living ghost, haunting the motel-leaving Ted to fend for himself.

In this isolation, unchecked by the bounds of parenting, Ted's darker impulses begin to manifest. The arrival of a mysterious drifter, William Colby (Rainn Wilson), captivates young Ted and the two form a unique friendship - setting the stage for Ted's final, unnerving metamorphosis. "The Boy" is a chilling, intimate portrait of a 9-year-old sociopath's growing fascination with death.