Seven years ago Harry Mason and his wife found a baby by the road and adopted her as their own, naming her Cheryl. Though the wife soon died Harry Mason continued to love Cheryl as his own daughter.

At the start of the game we find Harry Mason and Cheryl going to the resort town of Silent Hill. Strange events occur before they have even entered the town. A cop on a motorbike drives past them and only moments later Harry sees the bike lying by the side of the road and the cop is nowhere in sight. Soon afterwards a figure suddenly appears on the road, Harry turns the car and slides off the road. When he regains consciousness Harry discovers that Cheryl is missing and that he has slipped into a strange dimension shrouded in fog . It's soon clear that this place is unlike any place he's been before. Strange creatures lurk within the fog and as Harry follows what he thinks is his daughter's silhouette all over town, he realizes that the town has a darker and more dangerous side to it.