Although Heather Gregg relishes the prospect of farm-sitting for a friend in the Missouri Ozarks, Heather's mother predicts trouble, turning up the Death card from her tarot deck. And trouble is what Heather gets. A crawling white mist and a mysterious dark-haired girl haunt the forest around the farmhouse. The cries of a baby rend the night sky.

According to Heather's neighbors, Heather is encountering the ghosts of Mary Wallace and the baby she kidnapped. Their spirits are tied to the nearby ruin of a once-grand hotel, Ildereen. There in the fall of 1929, Mary hacked to death her employers and escaped into the woods with their infant son. Mary died that winter of exposure, but the baby was never found.

What turned a happy, beautiful young woman into a murderess? Heather's investigation uncovers surprising facts, but the séances she holds empowers Mary's spirit to possess the living and kill again. Now Heather must discover how to lay Mary to rest—if she can.