Ellie and Henry are young, rich, in love, and engaged. In the carefree days before marriage and new responsibility, Ellie is happy to accept her eccentric Aunt Kate's request that she house-sit at Kate’s palatial estate in Burton, Virginia. With its nearly invisible housekeepers and plethora of pets, Ellie feels right at home. Conventional Henry, however, finds Aunt Kate and her lifestyle a little hard to take, and so he departs. After he leaves, Ellie realizes that there are disturbing secrets about the local aristocracy buried in a dusty old book she has carried into the mansion-some that extend to her own family.
Suddenly, Ellie's interest in the past is attracting a slew of unwelcome guests-some of them living and some, perhaps, not. Unwittingly, she has aroused a terrible vengeance that is now aimed at her.
