Schoolteacher Grace Penny has a problem. For the last few weeks she's been receiving photographs in the mail. Each shows a green candle — and in each successive photo, the candle burns lower.

Convinced the photos are more than idle threats, Grace seeks the help of local private detective John Halting and tells him of a series of recently recovered childhood memories eased out of her unconscious mind by a prominent psychotherapist. Memories of ritual satanic abuse secreted behind the peaceful veneer of the backwater town where Grace was raised. Memories of torture. Of sacrifice. Of murder. Memories that Grace believes point to the identity of the photographer, whose campaign to terrorize her is destined to climax in murder.