Harry Mason and his seven year old daughter Cheryl are on their way to the lakeside resort known as Silent Hill for a peaceful getaway when a mysterious teenage girl appears in the headlights.  Harry swerves to avoid her and ends up crashing through a fence into Silent Hill.  When he regains consciousness, he finds Cheryl is missing.  The town seems to be completely abandoned, save for a few abominations scurrying about, covered in a thick blanket of fog, and it's snowing-in July.  He spots Cheryl up ahead through the fog and calls out to her but she runs away from him.  She escapes and he is now stranded in the town and is left to search for his missing daughter in a town that is periodically taken over by the otherworld, AKA hell.