The recounting of a terrible crime that wracked a family and galvanized police in South Carolina in the 1980's. Southern beauty pageant winner Dawn Smith is targeted by a sadistic stalker whose obsession with her leads him to kidnap her younger sister.

Three teenage friends get into a fight, and one of them accidentally gets killed. The two remaining girls promise each other to keep silent. As the police get more and more suspicious, the mother of one of the girls gets into a crushing dilemma: protect her daughter or see justice done.

Martha Travis is a medium who makes contact with spirits "on the other side" and connects them with their loved ones still alive, in public performances. Trouble begins when she gives a message to Mary Kuron from her husband, Tom. But Tom isn't dead... yet. And Martha not only knows he will die, she also knows who killed him. And the murderer knows she knows...