As she lies dying in prison, notorious serial killer Dorothea Puente spills her grotesque secrets, unraveling the story of how a life shaped by abuse, betrayal, and manipulation turned her boarding house into a graveyard.
Opening in a stark prison cell, the frail, elderly, Dorothea Puente spills the secrets of her exploits to ayoung journalist. From here, we plunge into vivid memories of Dorothea's youth as she spirals into aseries of destructive relationships, and the seedy underbelly of Sacramento in the 1950s. She learns earlythat deception is a means of survival, and the fine line between victim and perpetrator becomes blurred.
Over the years, Dorothea develops a dual persona: to the public, she's a charitable grandmother with awarm smile, offering rooms to the destitute in her boarding house. But behind closed doors, her kindnessserves a sinister purpose. The film follows her chilling descent as financial desperation and power hungertake over, leading her to drug, rob, and kill her elderly and mentally ill tenants-meticulously hiding theirbodies in her backyard garden. The narrative shifts between different timelines-her youth, multiple arrestsfor fraud, failed marriages, and the growing body count as she evolves into the merciless landlady.The victims become collateral damage in her quest to maintain a comfortable life and conceal the fractures of her dark psyche.As the walls begin closing in, the tension mounts with the detectives' relentless pursuit and the grotesquediscovery of human remains beneath freshly planted flowers.
The film doesn't shy away from the graphic nature of her actions or the emotional toll on her victims,offering a gritty, unflinching portrait of a woman shaped by violence, neglect, and betrayal. Dorotheaforces audiences to confront the harrowing question: What makes a monster? Nature, nurture-or a little bit of both?
