A web of events centered at a university in a small Alabama town reveals that the apparent double murder of a woman and her ten-year-old son was the result of something more than her boyfriend's drunken rage. Mysterious events at the home of a popular professor and a confrontation with a reclusive doomsday prepper are among the events that eventually lead cold case detective, John Keller, to the truth about what happened to Lacey Powell and her son, Ethan, on an August night in 2003. Through the course of this unfolding mystery, the reality of dark powers, the value of true friendship, and the burden of inarticulate love all come to light through a multitude of characters who, for good or evil, bring the life underneath closer to the surface of experience.