The film starts off with a family, consisting of Phillip, Laura, Kevin and Mary moving to a house up north in the countryside, bringing along Grandma Bernice, whom nobody in the family other than Laura cared for very much. The family had recently lost their deceased daughter Jennifer, and they're looking to start a new life without her and put the tragedy behind them. Just as they move into their new home, Mary begins hearing the voice of her dead sister under her bed, she screams and the alarmed parents rush in to see her bed in flames. Phillip manages to put out the fire and Mary tells him that there’s someone under the bed, Phillip checks but it is clear. Laura tells Mary that she will sleep with Kevin, much to the annoyance of him. Later, Mary hears breathing under the bunk bed, which happens to her every night and startles her. Eventually, Mary goes underneath the bed to find out what is going on. She finds that the ghost of Jennifer; who keeps appearing to Mary in secret, was the one that was calling her. Jennifer hopes to kill off her family as an act of revenge, but to spare Laura and Mary. Immediately after these meetings with Mary, one by one her family members meet twisted fates. Grandma suffers a heart attack from being spooked by Kevin's pet iguana, which was released onto her bed; Kevin falls off the roof after retrieving a Frisbee and Phillip is electrocuted in the bathtub when the radio he is listening to falls into the water. After it is discovered that Mary committed all of the killings, she is placed in a mental institution where a flashback occurs about the fate of Jennifer. Riding home from their grandmother's house, Kevin convinced Mary to play a prank on their sister, so Kevin tied Jennifer's shoes together. Apparently they were both jealous of the favoritism their sister was receiving as well as her constant bullying. When their car is accidentally struck by a van and begins to spark, all except Jennifer are able to get out of the car. Jennifer begs for help, but Mary runs away to inform her father of Jennifer's plight. Just as Phillip is about to go back to get her, the car bursts into flames. As Laura sleeps alone in her bedroom, she is awakened by a sound at the foot of her bed. Jennifer's ghost pops up and says, "Hi, Mommy." and Laura screams in terror, meaning that Jennifer is no longer a secret to Laura.
Don't Go to Sleep garnered positive reviews upon its initial broadcasting, with many praising the film's suspense, and performances. Maitland McDonagh of TV Guide awarded the film three out of five stars, commending the film's acting, screenplay, and suspense, calling it "a tight, genuinely scary made-for-TV thriller". Todd Martin from HorrorNews.net offered the film similar praise towards the performances, suspense, and script, as well as the film's ominous tone, and soundtrack. Brian Collins from Birth.Movies.Death, in a retrospective, praised the film's scares, performances, and mounting tension as still being effective years after its first release. Although Collins did note that the film's pacing was slower than it should be.
