After his wife's death and the collapse of his newspaper, David Harwood is forced to uproot his nine-year-old son and move back into his childhood home in Promise Falls, New York where he comes across a family secret beyond belief. His cousin Marla has been secretly raising a child who is not her own--a baby, she claims that was left on her porch as a gift from an "angel". When the baby's real mother is found murdered, David begins to piece together what happened--even if it means proving his own cousin's guilt. But as he uncovers each piece of evidence, David realizes that Marla's mysterious child is just the tip of the iceberg. Animals are found ritually slaughtered. An ominous abandoned Ferris wheel seems to stand as a warning that something dark has invaded Promise Falls. And someone has decided that the entire town must pay for the sins of its past... in blood.