Plagued by nightmares that tell him something evil will soon unleash an ancient horror upon the world, John Ross feels irrevocably drawn to the sleepy town of Hopewell, Illinois. In Hopewell, fourteen-year-old Nest Freemark also senses that something is terribly wrong, but she has not yet learned to wield the budding power that sets her apart from her friends. Now the future of humanity depends on a man haunted by his dreams and on a gifted young girl—two souls who will discover what survives when hope and innocence are shattered forever.