OUR STORY / SYNOPSIS

Fourteen-year-old Ryan Whittaker arrives at Poppy Mountain Prep School carrying a wound he cannot escape. Since the death of Shane, his identical twin brother, Ryan has become trapped in an identity defined by loss. Poppy Mountain offers something intoxicating... a chance to start over. Perched high in the mountains, the prestigious boarding school promises students the opportunity to discover who they truly are. 

 

Ryan quickly becomes immersed in the culture of Poppy Mountain. He befriends Erika, an independent-minded legacy who distrusts the institution despite having grown up within its orbit. Ryan develops feelings for Amanda, one of the school’s most admired students. At the same time, he finds himself locked in an escalating rivalry with his charismatic roommate James, whose cruelty helps define the freshmen social order.

 

For the first time since Shane's death, Ryan thrives. He excels academically, gains social popularity, earns recognition as an athlete and feels himself becoming the person he always wanted to be. But beneath the idyllic surface, something is deeply wrong.

 

The more Ryan is pulled into Poppy Mountain's mythology, the clearer it becomes that generations of students have been drawn into a cycle far darker than high school education. Within its traditions lies an ancient force intertwined with the mountain itself, one that has quietly shaped students for nearly two centuries.