Paramount Plus

Based on the novel of the same name by bestselling author Sarah Pinborough, INSOMNIA follows successful career woman Emma Averill, who fears she might be losing her mind, when her hard-won dream life starts to turn into a nightmare. A couple of weeks before her fortieth birthday Emma stops sleeping — just as her mother had done at the same age and right before she suffered a violent psychotic break on the night of her own fortieth birthday. Emma’s mother always told her she’d go the same way, that she had the same “bad blood,” and now Emma’s terrified it’s true. 

But even as Emma’s sleep deprivation starts making her question her own reality, she can’t help but feel like there’s something else amiss — her mother is in the hospital after a sudden injury, her estranged sister shows up in town without a word of warning and she constantly feels as if she is being watched. Is exhaustion just making her paranoid, or is someone maliciously trying to destroy her? As events worsen, Emma’s world starts to unravel and she realises that only by investigating the truth of her painful past, can she find the answers to her present and prevent tragedy from striking a second time.