George Kenner can't understand why anyone would leave New York for a hick town like Chilton. Especially Katherine, his bright, eager, rebellious daughter. But she and her new husband David have inexplicably absorbed all its archetypal small-town values. Shocked by her stunning transformation, George decides to see Chilton for himself. He arrives at a place whose smug air of tranquility fills him with dread - and gives a constant, inexplicable sense of deja vu. Then, when Katherine mysteriously lies about her former interest in ESP research among the town's residents, George uncovers the strange rash of deaths from several years before about which no one cares to explain. Everyone in Chilton seems only to be interested in the future - George's most of all.