Praeternaturals—people with paranormal powers—all over Boston know Lowell Kanaan and John Tilney for their discretion and forthrightness as private detectives. They're also about to move in together, and John seems to be dragging his feet for reasons Lowell can't fathom. Personal worries are quickly put aside, however, when they get a top-priority case: someone has introduced a blight into the Terran Garden, a kind of living graveyard for dormant Terrans who've become one with trees.

Most blights don't cause trees to start craving human flesh, but somehow, this one has, and one Gardener is already dead. If Lowell and John can't navigate the back-channels of Terran politics and secrecy quickly enough, more dead will certainly follow. Accusations abound: a Necromorph revenge plot, a widower's anger, a friend's jealousy, political maneuvering, or simply an ugly accident. The only thing that's clear is the carnage will get worse until Lowell and John discover who introduced this new blight and why they'd desecrate sacred Terran ground.

Just when Lowell was starting to think he'd seen it all... foliage zombies.