Detective Frankie Loomis uncovers a cache of sordid secrets while investigating the death of a brilliant, young woman who plunged off her apartment’s balcony while having a secret affair with an English professor who seems to be hiding information.

Spending the summer in the sleepy coastal town of Beaufort to keep close watch on the couple she chose to adopt her daughter, a 19-year-old Chapel Hill college student accepts a position as their nanny and ingratiates herself into the family with the chaotic fervor of a mother separated from her child.

Twenty-five years after a tragedy involving a distinguished creative-Writing professor, Briarwood College alumni are brought together to honor the victims, but when the professor’s former students start dying in similar ways to the stories they wrote years ago, those remaining must rewrite a new ending to survive.