The film opens in a bleak police station where celebrated war correspondent Kate Rafter (Seagrove) faces questions from a psychiatrist, Dr Shaw (Kurylenko), as they work through the painful events of Rafter’s life. A horrific incident in war-torn Iraq and the death of her mother (Steed) have brought a haunted Rafter home to Herne Bay, a place she believed she had escaped forever. Her resentful sister (Friel) has not made her sister welcome and her forbearing husband Paul (Miles) fails to broker peace. Whilst packing up her mother’s belongings from her childhood home, Rafter comes to believe there is something strange and terrifying happening in the house next door.
1990年代，上海。歌剧演员颜蔚（秦怡 饰）祸不单行，丈夫刚刚去世，如今女儿夏樱（刘赫男 饰）又患了精神分裂症住院，此时歌剧院领导通知她去厦门开会，她自感分身无术。夏樱的病情时好时坏，令颜蔚心急如焚。医院沙院长（刘琼 饰）告诉颜蔚，精神病人发病时自己并不觉痛苦，相反，痛苦的是家属。新来的小病友吹奏的囗琴曲《世上只有妈妈好》在患者中引起共鸣，不少病人脸上的表情不再木然，还有人流下泪水。颜蔚将逐渐好转的女儿接回家中康复治疗，并带她游览了日益发展的上海城区。清明时节，在给亡夫扫墓时，颜蔚遇见了为妻子上坟的沙院长......
华裔少女黄琼为融入校园、赢得“舞会皇后”头衔，接受一家公司提供的种族改造手术，变成金发碧眼的白人女孩。尽管她迅速获得欢迎，却与家人及自身文化根源决裂。手术引发的恐怖后遗症随之而来，迫使她在虚幻的“白人身份”与真实的自我之间做出抉择。
