Jess Shepard is an installation artist who creates environments that focus on light and space. A run of critically lauded projects peaks with Zero Zone, an installation created in the New Mexico desert. But when a small group of fanatics barricade themselves inside the installation, the authorities are forced to intervene, setting off a violent showdown and media sensation. Devastated by the distortion of her art, Jess retreats from the world. But one of the Zero Zone survivors, a troubled teenager, is missing, and the girls' parents ask Jess to help find her. But the group's charismatic leader is also looking for the girl, who he believes is the key to recreating their experience. Now Jess has no choice but to face down her fear, and try to recover her art from a violent cult intent on making it their own.