Six years ago, charismatic Southern Baptist minister Michael Cooper died abruptly on the same day a young boy went missing from the small town of Clancy. Called upon to read the lifetime of journals written by the enigmatic man of God is graduate student Sarah Shale, alone in a small country town where her presence is fiercely unwelcome. Cooper's devoted congregation, led by the menacing Deacon Kashman, wants nothing more than to be rid of her. Cooper's protege, the earnest young Pastor Ash Albright, is a man with his own agenda, who needs something else from Sarah. The journals contain revelations both shocking and grotesque, which could create a disaster of his church or a martyrdom of a dead man. As her research progresses and threats escalate against her, Sarah fears that Michael Cooper may have left more of himself in the church building than just his words on paper. Yet as Michael Cooper reaches for her from beyond the grave, so does another ghost - a young protector whose death has yet to be avenged. Emotions run deep in this highly charged drama of star-crossed passions, buried secrets, ghosts real and imaginary. Willingly or not, the church's secrets are becoming hers, and Sarah must tread carefully through the minefield of human relationships while she works to unearth the dark corners of the past and the unexplored regions of lonely hearts."