Annabelle Wilson, a woman with psychic abilities, tries to find Jessica King, a young socialite who has mysteriously disappeared. While the search continues, she starts to suspect the townspeople.
When Jessica King goes missing, all eyes turn to Annabelle Wilson. Not as a murder suspect, but as a clairvoyant. Many of the towns folk go to Annabelle for help, and Jessica's fiancée, Wayne Collins, turns to Annabelle for possible guidance. Annabelle feels that she can't help, but this doesn't stop her from constantly getting visions of Jessica's fate.—FilmFanUK
Since factory laborer Wilson's death in an accident, their three sons depend on their mother, Annabelle 'Annie', the small-town's 'medium'. One of her regular clients is Valerie, the regularly beaten wife of loner farmer Donnie Barksdale, who even terrorizes small boys. When Jesscia King, society fiancé of popular gentleman school principal Wayne Collins, goes missing, Annie's premonitions still put the disbelieving sheriff Pearl Johnson on the trail which leads to dragging the corpse from Donnie's pond. Annie warns the prosecutor David Duncan that he's wrongly accused, but the jury convicts him. Later, dark secrets come to light, putting Annie and others in danger.—KGF Vissers
Blessed with the extraordinary gift of second sight, the widowed clairvoyant and mother of three, Annie Wilson, struggles to eke out a living by foretelling the future, in her hot and humid hometown of Brixton, Georgia. But, unwittingly, Annie will soon find herself dragged into an obscure world of lies and terrifying visions of death, as the disappearance of the school principal's fiancée and local temptress, Jessica King, stirs up tension in the small community. Now, the circumstantial pieces of evidence point to a violent murder and a watery grave in the silent swamps, as incessant glimpses of the unseen plague Annie more and more. Could the killer be hidden in plain sight?—Nick Riganas
In the bayous near Savannah lives Annie, a widow with three young sons and a gift: she's clairvoyant, supporting her family by reading cards. Not long after she's menaced by Donnie Barksdale, the abusive husband of a client, the sultry daughter of a prominent citizen (and fiancée of the school principal) goes missing. Annie leads the police to the woman's watery grave, Donnie's pond. At the trial and after, Annie must sort through an attack on her credibility and her gift, knowledge of the dead woman's affairs, her own attraction to the principal, and a separate crisis brought on by the mental illness of one of her neighbors. The visions won't quit either: what if Donnie is innocent?—<[email protected]>
Set in the fictional town of Brixton, Georgia, young widow and mother of three young boys Annie Wilson (Cate Blanchett), is the town fortuneteller. The town is abuzz with the disappearance of Jessica King (Katie Holmes), fiancée of Wayne Collins (Greg Kinnear), the school's principal.
As the search for Jessica begins, the local police and Jessica's father, Kenneth King (Chelcie Ross), enlist Annie's help to see if she can solve Jessica's disappearance. Annie is unable to produce a vision, largely due to the presence of Sheriff Pearl Johnson (J. K. Simmons), who looks upon Annie's trade unfavorably.
Annie later receives a vision that Jessica has been murdered and her body weighed down by a chain and thrown into a pond. She also sees a fiddle player, white lilies, and a split-rail fence. She goes to Sherrif Johnson with her findings, and with the information, Johnson decides to search a pond on the property of violent alcoholic Donnie Barksdale (Keanu Reeves), whose battered wife, Valerie (Hilary Swank), gives permission to search their house as Donnie is away fishing. Donnie returns while the search is proceeding. As the police are ready to give up on the search, they find the naked and chained body of Jessica King. Donnie is immediately arrested.
During his trial for Jessica's murder, it is revealed that Jessica and Barksdale had an affair, and Jessica's reputation for promiscuity is exposed in court. The case against Barksdale is strengthened when a scratch on his forearm is proven to have been perpetrated by Jessica during a confrontation at a local bar. Annie also takes the stand, and though her psychic testimony is ridiculed by skeptic defense attorney Gerald Weems (Michael Jeter), Donnie is eventually convicted and sent to prison.
A subplot reveals other examples of Annie's "gift". Buddy Cole (Giovanni Ribisi) harbors an intense hatred for his father, and consistently has fits of seemingly unprovoked rage, including incidents with Annie -- one of Buddy's only friends -- and with Donnie Barksdale. Buddy tries to explain to Annie why he hates his father, but Annie is preoccupied and doesn't want to listen to the panicky and vulgar Buddy. He asks her, "If I look into a blue diamond, will I die?" but doesn't elaborate. Unable to understand the question, Annie shrugs Buddy off.
Soon after, Buddy's hysterical mother calls Annie to come over, as Buddy has snapped and has his father bound to a chair. Buddy sets fire to his father, and as Annie tries to stop him, he shows her a blue diamond tattoo on his father's navel. It is revealed that Buddy's father took advantage of his son's fragile mental state to force him into fellatio. An ambulance takes Buddy's father away, while Buddy is taken to a psychiatric hospital.
Later, Annie receives another vision saying that Donnie is innocent. She asks District Attorney David Duncan (Gary Cole) to reopen the case. Duncan refuses, but Annie counters that she will reveal Duncan's own involvement with Jessica King, as Annie had caught them making out in the women's restroom at a local dance. Duncan offers her money to keep quiet, but Annie refuses, still wanting justice for Barksdale.
Annie tells Principal Collins that Barksdale is not responsible for his fiancée's death and that D.A. Duncan will not reopen the investigation. After driving out to the pond that night with Collins, Annie realizes that Collins is the murderer. He confesses to Annie that he was angry after he discovered that she was cheating on him with nearly every man in town. Knowing that she'll go to the police, Collins attempts to kill Annie. Just as he is about to land a fatal blow with a steel flashlight, Buddy Cole shows up and knocks Collins out.
Sitting in the car at the pond, Buddy, uncharacteristically calm, returns a handkerchief that Annie had loaned him earlier, and tells her that she is the heart and soul of the town and not to stop doing what she's doing. The two drive to the police station with Collins stowed in the trunk. Annie tells Buddy that he will have to return to the hospital, and he waits in the car while she goes inside to talk with Sheriff Johnson. When Annie explains to Johnson what happened at the pond and that Buddy saved her life, the sheriff informs her that Buddy Cole had hanged himself at the hospital earlier that day. She returns to her car to find Buddy gone. However, Annie still has her handkerchief that Buddy's ghost returned to her.
