Sixteen-year-old Stella dreams in such detail that she can't be sure which side of wakefulness is reality. Some days she is Stella Barone, private school rich girl, and others she is Stella McGillivray, poor waif from the east valley. She lives in the same city, only a matter of miles, and a full week, apart.

Diagnosed with nightmare disorder, Stella's condition becomes especially significant when her friends start disappearing on both sides of wakefulness. Someone is taking them and she has the peculiar means of finding out who, if only she can avoid being taken herself.