Decades after three children are abducted from a rural Ohio town and held captive in the woods, three more children disappear under similar circumstances. Though the abductor in the previous case was killed, Detective Terry Kruthers must deal with local speculation that the two crimes are intrinsically linked. Terry wants to treat this like his typical small town case, but the media puts him into the national spotlight and he is forced to chase an old rumor that two kidnappers committed the original abduction and the survivor is now seeking revenge. Terry's gut says this is the work of a copycat criminal, but he must reevaluate his suspicions when he receives riddles mailed directly from the children's abductor. Each package contains a cryptic message along with a horrifying link to the thirty-year-old case. As the media guesses who committed these unspeakable acts, Terry struggles to answer the more profound question. Why?