Terrorised by her mother and abandoned by her boyfriend, Amy feels that only her young brother, Joey, provides the love and friendship she needs. As for Joey, he too lives in fear of his mother, a woman whose days are regulated by religious observance and whose nights are ruled by the bottle and drunken confessions of a past too terrible for young Joey to comprehend. It is a year since Tina Evans lost her little boy Danny in a tragic accident, a year since she began the painful process of forgetting, of trying to rebuild her life. The search for an answer, the search for Danny demands a courage and endurance beyond any Tina thought she possessed. Only her love for her son, her love for the one man who believes her drives her on, through the neon clamour of Las Vegas nightlife, the sun scorched desert,and the frozen mountains of the High Sierras.
People die, coldly, brutally, as a buried truth struggles to surface.
When schoolteacher Jim Ironheart saves a child from being killed by a drunk driver, reporter Holly Thorne witnesses his heroism. Intrigued, she discovers that he has quietly performed many such rescues. Realising she is on to the biggest story of her life, Holly tracks Jim to California. And soon they are both running for their lives from a savage and uncannily powerful adversary. In great jeopardy, they are eventually drawn to a high room in an old windmill where as a boy Jim experienced something frightening and strange.