A sad and sudden event brings to an abrupt end the happiness shared by Mrs Jessop and her younger daughter, Alison, in their cottage by the sea. One room over a laundry in the slums of London is to be a very different life for them both.

Zena has been abandoned by her parents and left in the care of her aunt Bee Melvin. She is treated poorly by two of her cousins, and taking the lead from the story Peter and Wendy, she runs away from home with her younger cousin.

Thirteen-year-old Cassie Palmer, the seventh child of a seventh child, has inherited the gift of second sight. Unsure whether or not she even believes in ghosts, Cassie heads to the cemetery to test her ability to communicate with the Other World. She starts with the departed spirit of a harmless child: CHARLOTTE EMMA ELIZABETH WEBB, BORN 1840 DIED 1847. But when a mysterious man appears, Cassie finds a new companion. Is he a gravedigger? A bum? Or did Cassie's inexperience cause her to bring back Charlotte's frightening neighbor: DEVERILL 1720 - 1762?