Simon is a normal child in most ways, but he has a connection with the dead that he can't escape. When he's brought home from the hospital, they get a visit from a bird lady with dire warnings about his future. "You won't live to be twenty one unless you follow my instructions!" is her unheeded warning. As he edges closer to that fateful birthday, he knows too late that he should have listened when he was too young to be given a choice in the matter.