Calliope "Callie" Dakin is a very special little girl: she can hear the whispers of the dead. When her father is murdered on Callie's seventh birthday, Callie is left alone, penniless, and on the run with her vain, vicious mama. The two take refuge on a tiny island off the coast of Pensacola, in an isolated bed-and-breakfast run by Merry Verlow, who seems to know more about Callie than Callie knows about herself.

As Callie grows into a teenager, she comes to understand the secret conspiracy that has guided the course of her life. Now that conspiracy intends to use Callie's powers to their own ends. If she ever wants to be free, she must finally solve the mystery of her father's gruesome death.