Ariel is a painter who finds herself stuck in a creative slump that threatens her career as well as her own sanity. She is crumbling beneath the weight of her debilitating depression and the ever-shortening deadlines of her employers, becoming increasingly paranoid and isolating herself completely from the world.

Her psychological struggles start to haunt her in the shape of a dreaded antagonistic figure called The Shadow, an archetypal oppressor figure that prevents her creativity from flourishing. Meanwhile, her own ego takes the shape of the Astronaut, a solitary figure that roams a deserted landscape looking for something that might awaken Ariel from her creative and psychological slumber.

When the Astronaut’s journey leads him to a magical quartz crystal amidst the broken lands of Ariel’s subconscious, the same crystal is mysteriously sent to her house, and she begins to find the inner strength to fight back against The Shadow and free herself from his grip.