In an isolated town, within an old textile mill, Nathaniel has built a small organization on stolen money. An anonymous phone call warns him that he has been betrayed, and that a contract has been taken out on his life. His friend Milton, an inventor, has been slain and the unidentified killer is closing in. Nathaniel uses Milton's most recent creation to travel back in time, an act which destroys the machine and strands him exactly one week in the past.

Nathaniel adopts a new identity and infiltrates his own organization to unmask his betrayer and locate the killer. He is aided by Milton, who understands Nathaniel's situation, but does not yet know of his own fate.

As Nathaniel struggles to salvage both his money and his life, his physical and mental states begin to deteriorate: a side effect of the time machine. He begins an affair with the secretive, agoraphobic wife of one of his employees, and a string of home break-ins in the small mill town casts suspicion on those Nathaniel had trusted most.