Ruth Roy, a Wisconsinite in her late sixties, seeks to put the tragedies of her small town past behind her by acquiring a small property and founding a business along with a new life in the Old World before age and decrepitude overtake her. Her new beginning takes a sinister turn, however, when horrific nightmares begin to haunt her and a prophecy - discovered within a tale within an antique journal - has her doubting not only her chances at a new life, but her neighbors and her very sanity. She finds herself searching desperately for a way out of the horrors that threaten to ensnare her, horrors which all began with that tiny little house she acquired, and the mysterious cellar on top of which it was built.