After the loss of her baby and subsequent divorce, Edgar Allen Poe scholar Marissa Owens leaves her tenured job as an English professor for a fresh start at her alma mater, Blackthorn University. As she begins to feel like herself again, one of her favorite students goes missing.

Then, the police find the body.

The investigation descends upon the campus, and familiar clues begin to surface. This triggers a disturbing memory from Marissa's own dark past at Blackthorn-one she has attempted to keep buried.