The Clearing follows the story of a journalist studying the effects of a storm that has been continuing to swell over Appalachia for 5 months with no sign of stopping. While she and her colleague are on route to continue ongoing interviews with survivors about strange psychological behavior following the storm, she inexplicably wakes up alone in an empty jeep, parked in a clearing, surrounded only by Appalachian wilderness. After realizing the car will not start, she makes the bold decision to find her way back to civilization on foot, despite being lost. While on foot, vivid recurring thoughts and visions of personal childhood trauma begin to manifest around her, as she draws perplexing similarities between her past and the testimonials she has been collecting. Growing increasingly obsessed with the introspective connections she shares with the interviewees' stories, she finds herself unable to leave the woods, instead mysteriously returning to the clearing.