Nik Conneras life is going to hell in the proverbial handbasket. He has a failing marriage with an unfaithful wife, and a wrongful inmate death allegation that cost him his job as an instructor at a law enforcement academy. He is depressed, bored and suffering from a violent psychosis that he does not understand. He has always been able to temper his violent nature by using the control he learned in the martial arts, but no longer. As a result, he is calmly planning his own suicide. It is that, or act out the violence in his soul. So, when he receives a letter to return home to Lacrosse, Wisconsin, because his old instructoras female students are being raped and killed, he wonders if things can get much worse. The victims are found brutalized and crucified in the backwaters of the Mississippi River. Nik has a good idea who the killer is, but he has other problems. Now he is being stalked by a specter of a Franciscan nun he calls Mother Superior. He has no idea if she is real or another symptom of his deteriorating mental condition. Going back home seems like a nice break. He has no idea that his Franciscan imaginary friend will follow him. He will also be drawn back into the dark world of his past, and all the strange players in his life who caused him to leave in the first place.