The Shining is a 1977 horror novel by American author Stephen King. The novel was adapted into a 1980 film of the same name, produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick and co-written with novelist Diane Johnson. The film's central character is Jack Torrance (Nicholson), an aspiring writer and recovering alcoholic who accepts a position as the off-season caretaker of the isolated historic Overlook Hotel in the Colorado Rockies, with his wife, Wendy Torrance (Duvall), and young son, Danny Torrance (Lloyd). Danny is gifted with psychic abilities named "shining". After a winter storm leaves the Torrances snowbound, Jack's sanity deteriorates due to the influence of the supernatural forces that inhabit the hotel.