Her mother, an ex-model, will do anything for love—and all the neighbors know it. Her father, a rich business executive, is cold and aloof. Now the Schmidt family has moved to California, and eighteen-year-old Eden must face a tough new school and a creepy, old house that certainly feels haunted.

When her mother is killed in a freak auto accident, Eden finds a wooden cross among her mother's possessions. Triggering what will become a final confrontation with her father, Eden accidentally falls down the stairs and breaks her neck.

"She could still remember looking deep into the eyes of her petrified father as she plummeted towards the ground. His mouth was open in a horrified "O," while his face flashed so many colors that he was like a giant revolving jeopardy wheel. It was at that moment that she truly felt the fear course through her, for the truth finally hit her: she was going to die."

Though die she does, Eden also awakens to a new reality to learn that she has entered into purgatory—a place called Zemiothstai, where angels, beasts, and demons battle, and humans are tested as to their worthiness to enter heaven. Eden is told that she must be a light in a world of darkness, that she must find a way to reopen the gates of heaven, that it is all up to her to save the thousands of souls who may be forever trapped in hell if she cannot accomplish her mission. And she thought high school was hard.