Dark-eyed Sara Jerome is bright, passionate and indomitable, but her nights have been tormented since childhood by dreams of a candlelit figure glimpsed in a mirror and a sensation of evil so strong she can barely fight herself awake. When she decides to follow her beloved Ritchie Temple to San Francisco, her mother is violently opposed but will not explain why. Sara, however, is determined not to lose him and hopes to find her father"s family and be raised to a station in life that will allow Ritchie to marry her. When her wealthy, domineering great aunt seeks Sara out, she"s given the chance to fulfill her ambitions, but the price is high -- and in the towering old Varady Mansion she finds herself forced to confront her childhood nightmare turned into reality.