Peyton Flanders (Rebecca De Mornay) seemed to be the perfect nanny, but secretly she was out to wreck the lives of the family she was supposed to be helping. Before becoming the nanny, Peyton had a miscarriage due to the stress caused by the death of her husband, Dr. Victor Mott (John de Lancie), and blamed it on Claire (the mother, played by Annabella Sciorra),. Claire suspects nothing, having never met Peyton before.
Dr. Victor Mott is a respected and successful gynecologist, but both come to a crashing halt when he is accused of Sєxually molesting his patients. When Claire Bartel accuses him of this crime, four other women come forward to corroborate the story. Stripped of his license and on the verge of being sent to prison, Dr. Mott commits suicide.
Dr. Mott’s now-widowed wife suffers a miscarriage, and is on the verge of losing her home to civil judgments against her husband’s estate. Broken, alone and now near-penniless, Mrs. Mott learns that Claire is seeking a nanny for her own young children, and sees this as the perfect tool to exact a bloody revenge on Claire Bartel, and take Claire’s family for her own.
Accused of Sєxually molesting several of his patients, Dr. Victor Mott kills himself. He leaves behind an expectant wife, who miscarries and loses the child, blames the victim, Claire Bartel, who initiated the criminal proceedings against her husband and decides to avenge his death. For this purpose she calls herself Peyton Flanders, gets herself hired as a nanny for Claire’s two children, gains the trust of her employer and her husband, Michael, and sets about her gruesome task.
