Based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith (The Talented Mr. Ripley), Cry of the Owl is a psychological thriller about a troubled young man, Robert (Paddy Considine) ; a depressed but fundamentally decent man, who leaves the big city to escape a tumultuous marriage and his ex-wife for the tranquility of a small town. He finds respite from his problems by secretly watching the normal domestic life of a woman he doesnt know (Jenny: Julia Stiles) through her kitchen window, a seemingly harmless palliative to his lonely life and failed marriage. Robert becomes infatuated with Jenny. However, when Jenny catches Robert in the act, she doesnt call the police. Instead she feels a strange empathy for Robert and invites him into her home. Robert is drawn into a relationship with Jenny, which has dire consequences when her boyfriend Greg finds out. Immediately suspicious of Robert, Greg makes it his mission to destroy him. But when a fight leaves Greg unconscious and missing, Robert discovers he is the number one suspect in a murder case that is slowly beginning to look like the ultimate set-up.