Dexter Cooke was supposed to be a star. A child of privilege, loved and encouraged by his parents, adored by his peers. He could have been anything he wanted. Instead, by his mid-thirties he is mired in mediocrity -- a lacklustre husband, guilt-ridden son and uninspired teacher at the small-town high school he himself attended. He is jolted out of his torpor by a student who experiences a sequence of paranormal visitations from a man named Gabriel at the Dancing Grasses conservancy. Could this be the same Gabriel, the charismatic shaman, whose spell Dexter fell under at 17? Why is he reappearing at Dancing Grasses, and why has he led Dexter and Susan to a corpse? This second coming of Gabriel propels Dexter into his past, forcing him to re-examine why he broke so disastrously with his parents, and how a failed affair with the only woman he has ever loved collapsed his hopes for the future. Secrets revealed and unsuspected connections set Dexter upon a new path of self-discovery, one that promises freedom from the damning Flame of Separation.