Welcome to White Ash, a small smudge of a town in western Pennsylvania, where mining is a generational calling and the secrets are buried deeper than the coal in the mountain. As Aleck Zwerg tries to escape that legacy and head off to college, he falls into the orbit of the enigmatic Lillian Alden. Together, they race down a dangerous path, leading Aleck to uncover a secret about his family that changes everything he knows about himself and White Ash. And now, if he leaves, there will be no one left to protect the people of the town from an ancient evil that has just returned.