American horror in which fading publishing executive Will Randall (Jack Nicholson) drives alone on a freezing night in Vermont, hits a wolf on the road and believes it to be dead. When he gets out of his car to investigate, the wolf bites him, and Will later finds that his hearing and sense of smell have become extraordinarily heightened. He also develops the killer instinct at work, but begins to suffer nocturnal blackouts and soon has trouble controlling his new-found predatory instincts.