Curtis Laforche, the main character in "Take Shelter," is an ordinary mid-western American guy. He works blue collar for a mining operation in rural Ohio, is married, has a child, owns a house (with a hefty mortgage) and is struggling to keep up with the ordinary (primarily financial) demands of life. In addition to the normal concerns of a working father and husband, Curtis has an added burden; his daughter is deaf and he and his wife are trying to save enough money for her to have a cochlear implant and a chance at hearing. 

All, however, is not well with Curtis. The opening scene of the film shows Curtis standing in front of his house looking up at a massive storm gathering in the distance – some combination of a tornado and a hurricane with lightning flashing between ominous, dark clouds. It begins to rain. Curtis looks at his hand and discovers that the rain is brown and oily. We, as viewers, are left to wonder about how much of this scene is real and how much a product of Curtis’ delusions.

Curtis’ first dream comes after a long, hard day or work followed by a session of drinking in a local bar with the guys. At the start of the dream, as in the beginning of the film, Curtis is staring up at the sky as a storm gathers force in the distance. This time, we see actual twisters forming and a more immanent threat. His daughter, Hannah, also is there looking on and it is clear that a large part of Curtis’ anxiety has to do with her well-being. As the storm approaches, Curtis’ dog Red starts barking wildly and yanking at its leash, which is tied up to a tree. Suddenly, the dog breaks free, charges at Curtis and bites down on his forearm. The dream pain causes Curtis to wake up.  

The dream has unsettled Curtis. He can’t eat his breakfast. He feels pain in his arm where the dog bit him in the dream. The sight of his daughter playing on the floor with the dog provokes a rush of anxiety, which he can barely handle. The fears of the dream world have now bled into waking life. Clearly, something is happening to Curtis’ mind. He is either experiencing the first stages of a mental disorder, a disorder that begins in the dream world and slowly encroaches into the waking hours, or he is being provided with a series of hidden messages – bracing him for a pending catastrophe.          

The next night Curtis has another dream. He is driving in his car with his daughter in the back seat. It is raining hard and he struggles to see through the windshield. All of a sudden, he sees a person standing in the middle of the street and crashes when he swerves to avoid hitting him. His forehead smashes against the wheel, resulting in a deep but not serious wound. His daughter is unharmed. The rain is still coming down, obscuring vision out all windows. Curtis hears footsteps on the roof of the car. Something smashes the windshield and then the side windows. A man opens the door and snatches Hannah from her car seat. Another man puts Curtis into a choke-hold. Curtis wakes up gasping for air. 

After the second dream, Curtis starts to take defensive actions. He cages his dog and begins to think about renovating the old tornado shelter in the back of the house. His wife, Samanatha, doesn’t understand. The dreams and visions are now impacting Curtis’ social relationships in a significant way. Fallout from the third dream only adds to the growing unease between Curtis and his loving wife.

The third dream finds Curtis and Hannah together in the family living room. Hannah is staring out the window. When Curtis goes over to see what she is looking at, a threatening person appears in front of them. Curtis shouts and grabs his daughter. The figure moves over to the door and attempts to break it down. As the scene escalates in intensity, everything goes silent, the furniture elevates from the ground as if the whole house is being pressed in some sort of pressurized grip. The pressure is clearly torturing Curtis, preventing him from breathing properly. Finally, the furniture falls to the ground, the pressure is relieved and Curtis wakes up – only to find he has pissed in his bed. Samantha is in the room, readying herself for church. He cannot bring himself to tell her about the dreams and lashes out at her so she won’t discover the wet bed.