| Director | Fabrice Canepa, Jean-Baptiste Andrea |
|---|---|
| Genre | Christmas film, horror film |
| Runtime | 85 min |
| Country | France, United States |
| Budget | $900,000 |
| Box office | $75 million |
Driving on Christmas Eve with his family, Frank Harrington decides to take a short cut through a remote location because he is "bored" with the usual route. In the car with him: his wife Laura, his son, Richard, his daughter, Marion, and her boyfriend, Brad.
After a near-collision with another car, a white-clad woman appears at Frank's window, holding a baby. Marion suggests they drive the woman to a nearby cabin; because the car is full, she volunteers to follow behind them on foot. When they arrive at the cabin, Frank and Laura go to explore it and Richard disappears into the woods, leaving Brad alone with the woman. He asks how the child she carries can breathe with its face covered by blankets. She replies that it is dead and shows him the corpse. His screams of terror draw Richard back to the car, but Brad and the woman are nowhere to be seen. As she walks to the cabin, Marion sees a hearse drive by with Brad screaming for help in the back. When she gets to the cabin, she makes them pursue the hearse.
They find Brad's mutilated body in the road. Laura calls the police but on the end of the line is a woman begging for help, something that she hides from her family. As they continue to drive, Frank and Laura argue, and he reveals that he dislikes her family. When they stop to investigate a baby carriage in the road, Richard is abducted by the hearse. While the three run to save Richard, Frank sees the "woman in white" again. They find Richard's body and Laura begins to show signs of insanity.
The family pass a sign that says "Marcott" and Frank realizes that this must be a military road that is not on the map. During another stop, Laura shoots Frank in the leg with a shotgun that was intended to be a present for a family member. Shortly after, Laura talks about seeing the face of a friend who had died 20 years earlier in the woods and jumps out of the car to "visit" with her. The hearse appears again, but Frank manages to ward it off with the shotgun. Instead he shoots Laura in the head, killing her. Frank and Marion take her to a nearby rangers station, where Frank writes a note to later give to Marion. The woman in white attacks Frank. Afterwards, he becomes deranged and beats Marion into unconsciousness. Seeing the woman in white again, he pursues her into the woods, where he is killed by an unseen force.
Marion awakens and, because the car is out of gas, walks for help. She finds body bags containing her dead family members in the middle of the road. The woman in white appears, tells her that the hearse isn't there for her, then gets into the hearse and drives off.
Marion suddenly awakens in the hospital, heavily bandaged. Dr. Marcott tells her of her coma and assures Marion that she and the baby will be fine. On the way out of the hospital, the doctor talks to a man claiming to be the one that found the family after the car crash. The man confirms that only Marion survived and that the crash also claimed the life of a young woman and her baby in the other car. When the doctor tries to leave, her car fails to start, and the man who found the family offers her a lift in the same hearse from Marion's dream.
Two workers who are sweeping up debris from the crash find the note Frank had written to Marion before their final stop.