Young Nate is on a foreign exchange assignment to stay with a family in an ancient castle in western Germany. As he eagerly learns to adapt to the culture Nate is befriended by neighboring Germans, Thorston and Sandra, who together discover there is something terribly wrong in the castle and the surrounding farming village of Gauersheim. The three find themselves exploring the reasons behind a rat infestation, and subsequent cases of rabies; but what begins as innocent investigation, gets them into trouble with the dark and suspicious castle caretaker, Bruno.