<P> The film debuted at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival . It was purchased by RADiUS - TWC for distribution . After a successful limited release beginning 13 March 2015, the film had a wide release on 27 March 2015 and grossed $20.6 million worldwide . It received widespread critical acclaim . </P> <P> A young woman, Annie Marshall, flees her house as an unseen presence follows her . She drives to the beach, where she makes a panicked phone call to her parents . The next morning, her horribly mutilated body is found by the water . </P> <P> A Detroit college student, Jaime "Jay" Height, goes on a date with her new boyfriend, Hugh . At the movies, Hugh points out a girl whom Jay says she cannot see . Afraid, he asks that they leave . On another date, Hugh and Jay have sex in his car, but afterwards he incapacitates her with chloroform . She wakes up tied to a wheelchair . Hugh explains that she will be pursued by an entity that only she can see, which can take the appearance of any person . Although it only moves at a walking pace, it will always know where she is and will be constantly approaching, and if it catches Jay, it will kill her and pursue the previous person to have passed it on: Hugh . After they see a naked woman walking toward them, Hugh drives Jay home and flees . </P> <P> The next day, the police cannot find the woman or Hugh, who was living under a false identity . At school, Jay sees an old woman in a hospital gown walking towards her, invisible to others . Jay's older sister Kelly and her friends Paul and Yara agree to help and spend the night in the same house . Paul investigates a smashed kitchen window but sees no one; Jay sees a disheveled, urinating, half - naked woman walking toward her . Jay runs upstairs to the others, who cannot see the entity . When a tall man with seemingly no eyes enters the bedroom, Jay flees the house . </P>

When is it follows supposed to take place