That Christmas Eve, when a snowstorm lays siege to Seattle , there will be disappearances, unseen terrors, and unexpected encounters in small, tight places. The Rossi family is about to learn the meaning of Christmas.

Eleven-year-old Billy Beck is playing a fantasy game in Ravenna Park when a real-life tragedy infects him with a supernatural evil out of Seattle's ugly past. What he saw will leave him changed and vulnerable to a crime of revenge that has gone unpunished-until now.

Dr. Veronica Glass, professor of English literature at the University of Washington, does not believe in ghosts. She's trying to teach a course on the Victorian ghost story and having trouble with a couple of her students because of it.