At the beginning of the book, Alex Jiang and his wife pass away simultaneously after Alex delivers his firstborn child. Alex passes away from cerebral hemorrhaging after he failed to follow the orders of a mysterious voice. The Jiang child is placed in an orphanage where he would spend his first six months of life before being adopted by an entrepreneurial young couple, the Shao's. His new parents name the young boy Agni. As Agni grows up, he begins to act out violently. The book explores what leads Agni to committing these heinous acts and their connection to his biological father's strange fate.