FULL SYNOPSIS

Maggie, age 8, finds a sparrow with a broken wing while out walking in the hills. She takes it home, hoping to nurse it back to health, but when a candle tips over onto the tinsel Christmas star she’s using as a “nest”, her attempt to save the bird becomes an animal sacrifice in a flaming pentagram.

A crack opens up in the darkest corner of the cupboard under the stairs, all the way down to hell, and four demonic imps creep out. Maggie hides, terrified, but when the imps find her, they kneel and direct her to the cupboard, where she finds the devil waiting for her. The devil asks Maggie what she wants — she says “to fly away”, so he offers her a deal. He’ll give her the gift of flight. If she can master it and fly away within 12 days — for good — she will be free. But if she can’t, her soul is forfeit. Maggie agrees.

Over the next few days, Maggie tries to fly. She falls a hundred times. She manages to get off the ground, just, but not high enough to clear the garden wall. When she asks the devil for advice, he says no one can teach her how to fly — but he can tell her the truth when everyone else lies.

On a family visit, Maggie blurts out to her grandfather that she can fly. He challenges her to prove it and laughs maliciously when she falls. Burning with shame, Maggie hears the devil whisper that he knows how to kill the old man. Maggie insists she only wants to teach him a lesson, so the devil directs her to the churchyard at midnight to take ivy from a grave. Maggie tastes the vine to ensure it won’t kill him, but it makes her delirious. In this state, she sees the imps trashing her family’s prized possessions — and joins them. In the morning, Maggie is horrified to find it wasn’t a dream. But the police take everyone’s fingerprints to rule them out — no one suspects a thing.

Maggie slips the ivy into Grandad’s gin. But instead of becoming delirious, he dies instantly. After the funeral, Maggie returns to the cupboard, but instead of the devil, she finds Grandad, risen from hell to hold her accountable. Maggie flees, screaming. But, her mother tells everyone to ignore her — she’s just looking for attention.

Maggie packs her things and flies away to a different neighbourhood. A man coaxes her into his house and forces her to touch his penis. Maggie runs. The devil comforts her — he’ll show her how to summon a demon to kill the pervert tomorrow.

Maggie returns to the pervert’s cul-de-sac with her friend Katie. She draws a chalk pentagram and sacrifices an ant. The suburb is immediately cloaked in fog. A towering demon appears. Maggie watches as the pervert’s house burns, but when she hears sirens, she runs.

When the girls return, Katie’s mum is furious, but Maggie’s mum doesn’t know what the fuss is about. Maggie finds the dead bird where she left it at the mouth of hell. She wants to bury it before she leaves again for good. The devil says her time is up — her soul is his and the bird belongs to him. But Maggie insists the day’s not over yet.

As Maggie buries the bird, her brother taunts her. She flies to get away, making it to the top of the tallest tree. Her family sees her. She’s thrilled — until she falls and twists her leg.

That night, Maggie hears the imps. She limps downstairs. With ten minutes to midnight, she climbs the tree again and flies into the sky — but the imps chase her and drag her back down, hitting every branch on the way, through the house to the darkest corner of the cupboard. Her soul belongs to the devil now.

Years later, Maggie returns home for her father’s funeral. She looks exactly as though the devil is a woman now. She plays nice at first — polite to the minister, gracious to guests — until she sees the pervert. She realises he survived the fire. The chasm opens up again. But this time, it’s not the devil who climbs out— it’s Little Maggie, her childhood self.

Little Maggie says she’s found a way to get her soul back. But Big Maggie doesn’t want it back — she wants to kill the pervert. Little Maggie warns her: the devil can’t help because Maggie buried the sacrifice. If she wants his help, she must make a new one — something small and wild, something she cares about.

Big Maggie can’t bring herself to sacrifice her mother’s dog or her brother’s kids. So she tries to poison the pervert, but it fails. When her mother praises “Stuart” for raising money for a children’s charity, Maggie finally tells her mother he made her touch his penis when she was a child. Her mother sidesteps the accusation. Katie won’t help either.

When the pervert starts to take his leave, Maggie has an idea. She enlists her niece and nephew to summon a demon. It crashes his car and kills him. Maggie makes sure he’s dead this time — but afterwards the demon doesn’t disappear, he turns on the guests. At first, they can all see the demon and the imps as they cause mayhem and destruction. But Maggie watches as they keep reverting back to more realistic explanations.

Big Maggie returns to the cupboard — she has a plan. She holds Little Maggie by the ankle, preventing her escape. Big Maggie doesn’t really want her soul back — but she’s been thinking, if she did get it back she would have something to bargain with. She could call the devil again and make a deal for what she really wants - to fly again. Little Maggie  struggles to get away. Frustrated, Big Maggie asks her why she’s so desperate to go back down into hell. Little Maggie replies “No, this is hell, that’s the way out.”.

Little Maggie flees through the tunnel. Big Maggie chases her — out onto the hill. Little Maggie takes flight. Big Maggie grabs her, and begs her to reveal how she can get her soul back. No answer. Desperate, Big Maggie promises not to make another deal — she’ll keep it. Still, nothing. As she watches her younger self struggle to fly away, she understands what she must do. She lets her go.

Maggie is left alone on the hill above the town. She stands on her rock. The air flows around her. And it feels like flying.