The Pear Orchard House is set in the Pacific Northwest around 1910. Charles Lawrence, an artist from the southeast, comes to Willet to settle the estate of his late uncle for whom he was named. From the moment Charles takes up residence in a house that an enigmatic former tenant once occupied disturbing things plague him, things others try to explain away or make light of. To complicate matters, two young women come into his life and before he can sort out his feelings for them, Ellen, his former fiancee reaches out to him for help. Meanwhile, mysteries deepen, weaving violence and intrigue into a net of horror that drags Charles down into a finale of incomprehensible revelations.