Laura (Belén Rueda) buys the orphanage where she lived as a child in order to turn it into a home for handicapped children. Her son Simón (Roger Príncep) has already made some invisible friends including one named Tomas who likes to play a find the hidden treasure game. After a visit from mysterious social worker Benigna (Montserrat Carulla) who knows that Simón was adopted and is HIV positive, Simón goes missing. Laura's husband Carlos (Fernando Cayo) is convinced that their son has been abducted but Laura becomes convinced that her son's imaginary friends might not be so imaginary and makes a gruesome discovery when she plays the hidden treasure game. A visit from a medium (Geraldine Chaplin) sheds more light on a past tragedy at the orphanage after Laura was adopted. Fearing for his wife's mental health, a skeptical Carlos decides they should leave the orphanage. Laura gets him to agree to let her stay two more days on her own to say goodbye to her memories. With her husband gone, Laura decides to play with the children in hopes of finding her missing son who she insists is still alive.

One of the string of ghost stories along the lines of THE OTHERS that makes full use of CGI enhancement, loud sound effects, home movie footage in place of flashbacks, surround rumbling, and digital manipulation of the color palette in the service of "subtlety." Great performances from Rueda and Cayo anchor the human drama but the supernatural element is tired and the tragic inciting event barely registers. Bayona's direction is fine and the cinematography fine (although its difficult to gauge how much is due to digital post-production manipulation). The film will surely please casual moviegoers but likely not people who were unimpressed with THE OTHERS.