Ever since her father was killed when she was just a child, Miranda Crabtree has kept her head down and her eyes up, ferrying contraband for a mad preacher and his declining band of followers to make ends meet and to protect an old witch and a secret child from harm. But dark forces are at work in the bayou, both human and supernatural, conspiring to disrupt the rhythms of Miranda's peculiar and precarious life.

Leonard Gardner, a former artist suffering from aphasia, is confined to a nursing home. A young care assistant, Kate Davies, discovers his collection of paintings and begins to work with him in a new approach to therapy.