Two years after the Great Earthquake that destroyed San Francisco, and a year after the bitter misunderstanding that almost destroyed their budding romance, Fremont Jones and Michael Archer are back in the City by the Bay, this time committed to being "partners in life and work." It's her friendship with a slightly flighty, pretty, and troubled young woman that gets Fremont involved in her first murder investigation. Frances McFadden is besotted with spiritualism, and the curious but skeptical Fremont agrees to accompany her to a seance. When Frances's husband finds out about their adventure, her punishment is both degrading and galvanizing at once. Then two mediums are murdered, Frances begins to discover her own talent for telepathy and takes a lover, and Fremont becomes dangerously embroiled in her friend's illicit liaison.