Sixteen-year-old Iris Howard's life is torn apart in a single, catastrophic moment...

Separated from her wheelchair bound, drug-addicted mother, and her best and only friend, a boy named Phoenix, Iris is sent to live with her estranged great-aunt at Howard Hall, where she is offered a life of both security and luxury.

But all is not as it seems at Howard Hall, home to the infamous Rose Garden Massacre in 1974.

When Iris starts to see glimpses of a boy in the attic, in the hedge maze, and in the beautiful rose gardens, she begins to question her sanity. Is he the handsome ghost of a tortured soul bound by the home's dark past, or is he real?

Sleeping secrets are awakened when Iris discovers that indeed the mystery boy exists, despite her aunt pretending that he doesn't.

Iris is soon swept into a forbidden romance with a boy she shouldn't love, while still yearning for her old life, which can never be.