Fresh out of college and armed with nothing more than a degree in Art History, Leander Caron strikes out on his own in a bid to find some direction in his life. His efforts land him in Dolores, a city burdened with shadows of grief and death. Where ghosts yearn for their past. Where sorcerer-hunters heed the call of the goddess of the crossroads and battle darker forces from the otherworld.

A cheerful, artistic, and doting widow welcomes him into her old Victorian house as her lone boarder, and there Leander finds the company and affection he's never enjoyed from his own mother. Luck changes for him as well in the guise of Efrain Thorley, a sorcerer-hunter who not only offers him desperately needed employment but also a reason to hope for a happiness Leander has never come to expect for himself.

But as it happens in a world shaped by potent forces of old magic and science, inexplicable events gradually turn into alarming confrontations with malignant forces from a shadow world. Portraits meant to comfort the grieving turn into corrupted shades of their inspiration. An unseen presence watches an isolated young man with heartbreaking yearning. And something dangerous and terrifying shadows Leander's steps night after night. Inching closer and closer. Confounding Efrain's efforts and all but ensuring Leander's fate as collateral damage in a failed hunt.