Melanie Trenholm should be anticipating Christmas with nothing but joy - after all, it's only the second Christmas she and her husband, Jack, will celebrate with their twin toddlers. But the ongoing excavation of the centuries-old cistern in the garden of her historic Tradd Street home has been a huge millstone, both financially and aesthetically. Local students are thrilled by the possibility of unearthing more Colonial-era artifacts at the cistern, but Melanie is concerned by the ghosts connected to it that have suddenly invaded her life and her house and at least one of them is definitely not filled with holiday cheer. And these relics aren t the only precious artifacts for which people are searching. A past adversary is convinced there is a long-lost Revolutionary War treasure buried somewhere on the property that Melanie inherited-untold riches rumored to have been brought over from France by the Marquis de Lafayette himself and intended to help the Colonial war effort. It's a treasure fit for a king, and there have been whispers throughout history that many have already killed - and died - for it. And now someone will stop at nothing to possess it - even if it means destroying everything Melanie holds dear.