The story takes place a day after a nuclear explosion at the plant in Cookshire, which is not far from North Haversham where Nyle Sumner lives. Nyle is a thirteen-year-old girl that lives with her grandmother on a sheep farm. As the story evolves, the author disburses pieces of information throughout via flashbacks to fill in the blanks about how Nyle came to live with her grandmother.

Nyle watched her mother die of cancer in the back bedroom of the farmhouse when she was just seven years old. Just two years before the story begins, her grandfather also died of cancer in that room. The back bedroom came to symbolize death. Nyle feared and hated that room. One day on her way up the hill from the bus stop, Nyle sees that the curtain in the back bedroom is closed. Instantly, Nyle knows that something is...