In 1930s Burning Cove, California, Maggie Lodge hires PI Sam Sage to find the person posing as her boss, known only as Dear Aunt Cornelia. As far as Sam is concerned, Maggie is reckless and in over her head. Maggie, on the other hand, is convinced that Sam is badly in need of guidance and good advice. Sam is haunted by his past, which includes a marriage shattered by betrayal and violence. Maggie is troubled by intense and vivid dreams--dreams that she can sometimes control. There are those who want to run experiments on her and use her for their own purposes, while others think she should be committed to an asylum. When the pair discovers someone is impersonating Aunt Cornelia at a conference on psychic dreaming and a woman dies at the conference, the door is opened to a dangerous web of blackmail and murder.