When a man ends a regretful love affair that occurred during his wife's illness, his mistress plots revenge by targeting his family's most treasured possessions, a priceless painting and his son.

A sleepy Oregon village turns deadly when Adam, introducing himself as an English professor working on his first novel, befriends Kate and Mike, a brother and sister trying to put their lives back together after the death of their father. The two welcome the stranger, unaware that their actions will lead them down a dangerous path into the mind and grip of a deadly serial killer.