Cathy Simms was sold to a pornographer as a child. As a teenager she lived enslaved by a brutal pusher-pimp named Daddy Jones. One day a young Christian man tried to lead her away from a seedy hotel to a safe house, but was beaten to death by the pimp's brother, who then turned his wrath upon her. She was rescued by a kickboxer named John Starr, but a gun battle ensues drawing the attention of the police.

Cathy and several girls were rescued that day, but Daddy Jones escapes. Cathy and John marry but she gradually discovers she has married a cold man, who can show little affection other than a flicker of a smile. They have a beautiful daughter named Rachel. Her dad takes a job as a Forest Ranger in a sparsely populated visual paradise called Brightwater Bay. They want to escape the possibility of a vengeful Daddy Jones and Starr's fears that he might become a loose cannon living in the city. Rachel has but a few friends, all living on the west side of Brightwater except Quentin, a boy her age next door.

Quentin is enchanted by her beauty, but that's as far as it goes, because he's not into the mushy stuff-yet. The children and a monk, standing on a nearby turret, see a vision of a glittering light and a black circle floating in the tree tops their first day together. This is an omen that they are to become part of the supernatural warfare between good and evil. Quentin does befriend Rachel and eventually falls in love. But he encounters enemies such as a stuck-up rich girl, a joker, a bully, unusual circumstances, and the devil himself.