Once upon a time, back at Darrow-Harker School, Beatrice Hartley and her five best friends were the cool kids. Then the shocking death of Jim --- their creative genius and Beatrice's boyfriend --- changed everything. One year after graduation, Beatrice is returning to Wincroft --- the seaside estate where they spent so many nights --- hoping she'll get to the bottom of the dark questions gnawing at her about Jim's death. Then a mysterious man knocks on the door. Blithely, he announces the impossible: time for them has become stuck, snagged on a splinter that can only be removed if the former friends make the harshest of decisions. Now Beatrice has one last shot at answers…and at life.

Ashley Cordova’s death is ruled a suicide, but veteran investigative journalist Scott McGrath suspects otherwise. As he probes the strange circumstances surrounding Ashley’s life and death, McGrath comes face-to-face with the legacy of her father: the legendary, reclusive cult-horror-film director Stanislas Cordova. For McGrath, another death connected to this seemingly cursed family dynasty seems more than just a coincidence.