Strange things are happening in Prophesy County, and it seems that Deputy Dalton Pettigrew and his family are smack dab in the middle of it. First, Dalton disappears on a mysterious date in Tulsa, then his sister Mary Ellen goes to rescue him, only to disappear herself. Mary Ellen left her middle child, Eli, in the care of Jean, the sheriff's wife, but it's not Jean's fault that Milt allowed Eli to run out in search of his inhaler all by himself. And it wasn't Jean's fault that little Eli never came back. Who is the mysterious Dr Emil Hawthorne and why is he out to get Jean? What did she do to him all those years ago that even eight years in a coma couldn't erase from his brain? And what can Milt Kovak do to find the missing Eli in time and stop this menace from attacking his family as he's promised?