In the late summer of a long-ago year, a killer arrived in a small city. In the space of a few months, Alton Turner Blackwood brutally murdered four families. His savage spree ended only when he himself was killed by the last survivor of the last family. Two decades later, someone is murdering families again, re-creating Blackwood's crimes. Homicide detective John Calvino, who stopped Blackwood when he was fourteen, knows his family is the copycat's next intended target.