With blowtorch and steel Clare Kimball has sculpted a personal vision that commands the attention of the New York art world. But success can not burn away the vague, troubling memories, the half-remembered nightmares that have plagued Clare since childhood. These phantoms of the past have drawn her home to Maryland, to the small town where she grew up and where her father died in circumstances never really explained.

Emmitsboro is just as Clare remembered - the same familiar faces, the same chatty gossip passed over the counter at the local diner. Nothing much has changed - except Cameron Rafferty. Once the high school bad boy, he landed on the right side of the law and is now the town sheriff. The only clue to his wild, passionate nature is the light in his eyes when he looks at Clare. In Cam's strong arms Clare is seduced into falling in love. And into believing her small-town world is safe.

But within the dark woods of Emmitsboro something evil spreads its poisonous power. Now the once-peaceful town is wrapped in a cloak of terror, hiding a treacherous heart. And now Clare must pay the price for digging up the secrets of the past. . . and confront an evil that may be unstoppable -- because those who practice it may be divine.