At Willard's department store, none of the night security guards survive for long, and eighteen-year-old Daniel Gale is about to discover why. Tired of living out of his backpack, he ignores the clerk's gossip about the old building being haunted and accepts the latest vacated position of night guard. On his first shift Daniel narrowly escapes a fatal fall down an elevator shaft and is rescued by Mary-a bossy and intriguing girl far too beautiful for after hours inventory. Anticipating every night shift as a chance to be with her, Daniel thinks his traveling days are over hoping that Manhattan is the place to call home. But as his life becomes more entwined with Willard's, Daniel senses unnatural changes and bizarre coincidences both with Mary and the store itself. Soon he begins to suspect Willard's is hiding something more sinister than gossip about ghosts-something that could make him the next casualty of the NIGHT SHIFT.