| Director | George Ratliff |
|---|---|
| Box office | $719,968 |
Brad and Abby Cairn are an affluent New York couple with two children. Their firstborn, 9-year-old, Joshua, is a child prodigy on the piano and thinks and acts like an adult.
Joshua gravitates toward his uncle Ned as a close friend but distances himself from his parents, particularly following the birth of his sister Lily. As the baby's whines drive an already strained Abby to the point of a nervous breakdown, Joshua exhibits sociopathic behavior, while Brad finds he cannot help his wife, do well at his demanding job, or match wits with Joshua.
Joshua kills the family's dog but says he does not know what happened. Unable to feel sadness, he imitates Brad's grief. He next causes a fight between his mother (who is Jewish, but non-religious) and paternal grandmother Hazel (who is an Evangelical Christian and constantly proselytizes Joshua) when he tells his parents he wants to become a Christian. Later, he convinces his mother to play hide-and-seek. As Abby counts, he takes Lily from her crib to hide with him, causing his mother to panic and pass out while searching for them. He then puts Lily back into the crib to make it look as though Abby was hallucinating.
Seeing that Abby is getting worse, Brad takes two weeks off from his job to look after her and the children. When he arrives home, Joshua has gone to the Brooklyn Museum with Lily and Hazel. Joshua frightens Hazel by describing the violent acts of Seth, the Egyptian god of Chaos. At home, Brad watches a videotape of Joshua making Lily cry on purpose, realizing that he has been making Lily cry incessantly at night. Brad goes to the museum and sees Joshua attempt to push Lily down a flight of stairs. Joshua stops when he is caught by Hazel but pushes her instead, killing her and disguising it as an accident. Brad confides in Ned that he thinks Joshua did it, but Ned does not believe him. Meanwhile, Abby has a psychotic breakdown and is institutionalized.
That night, Brad installs a lock on his bedroom door and tells Joshua that Lily will be sleeping with him. He also brings Betsy, a psychologist, to meet Joshua. Betsy comes to the erroneous conclusion that Joshua is being abused, frustrating Brad. Brad announces that he is sending Joshua to a boarding school. The next morning, while going for a walk with Brad and Lily, Joshua steals her pacifier, causing her to cry. When Brad confronts him, Joshua mocks him, causing him to strike Joshua. Brad tries to apologize but Joshua taunts him, driving Brad to beat his son in public, strengthening Joshua's case of abuse and sending Brad to jail for assault. Joshua also frames his father for tampering with Abby's medications, suggesting that Brad will spend the rest of his life in prison, leaving Ned to adopt Joshua and Lily.
Ned later sits with Joshua at the piano, and the two compose a song. Joshua sings about how his parents will never be loved by anyone now, and that he only wanted to be with Ned and got rid of everyone else. Ned finally realizes what Joshua has done and looks at him with a disturbed glance.