Indian summer. It's the time of year after the leaves change color, when the weather is bright and warm and winter's cold and slush still seems months and months away. Summer's last hurrah. For nine-year-old Eddie Gilmarten and his mother, who have fled to his aunt's farm in the Shawnee Hills of Southern Illinois, Aunt Gene's isolated home is the perfect place to escape an alcoholic father. But all is not well in this idyllic country setting. Eddie and his Ma aren't the only souls who have sought refuge on his aunt's sprawling property. There is a dark entity at large, and a man of secrets with a twisted mind and a terrible appetite for innocence.