Winston Starr

Orphan Winston Starr

Kate and John Coleman's marriage is strained after the stillbirth of their third child, Jessica, whose loss is particularly hard on Kate, who is also recovering from alcoholism. The couple adopt a nine-year-old Russian girl, Esther, from the local orphanage. While their five-year-old deaf-mute daughter Max embraces Esther almost immediately, their 12-year-old son Daniel is less welcoming. Kate bonds with Esther as she teaches her piano, and reconciles with John. One night, John and Kate have sex but are interrupted by Esther. Kate becomes suspicious when Esther expresses far more knowledge of sex than expected of a child her age, but John tells her not to worry about it. Soon, Esther demonstrates hostile behavior, killing an injured pigeon and injuring a classmate at the park, furthering Kates mistrust. After Sister Abigail, the head of the orphanage, warns Kate of bad things happening when Esther is around, Esther kills the nun with a hammer and pushes her body into a ditch, hiding the evidence in Daniel's treehouse. She catches Daniel spying on her, interrogates him, and threatens to kill him if he mentions anything to his parents. Kate becomes further convinced that something is wrong with Esther, but John does not believe her. When John suggests that Esther could do something nice for Kate, she intentionally brings her a bouquet of flowers from Jessica's grave, angering Kate who roughly grabs Esther's arm in response. Later that night, Esther purposely breaks her arm and blames Kate. The next day, Esther releases the brake in the car, causing it to roll into oncoming traffic with Max inside. When Esther points out the wine bottle she found in the kitchen, John decides to take some time away from Kate, taking the children before demanding a divorce. Kate later discovers that Esther came from an Estonian mental hospital and the orphanage Esther claims she was from has no records of her.