Life is hard for Violet Brennan. She should be applying to art school. Instead, she's caring for her sick mom. Ever since her dad's death a few years ago, the two of them survive each day by finding joy in simple moments, like trips to the Denver Art Museum.

But an ordinary day turns into a nightmare when a macabre exhibit captures Violet's curiosity. The Gothic America exhibit surrounds Violet in paintings full of secrets, shadows, and maybe even a little magic. When her eye catches movement in a painting of a brooding Victorian manor, she reaches out, touching the painting.

Violet tumbles through the canvas and into an impossible world of magic and danger. Trapped inside the painting with two creepy children and a terrifying governess, she must survive long enough to find a way home. In here, everything is hungry and even the shadows hunt for their next meal. Violet is desperate for a way back to her mom, but she's not the only one searching for a way home before it's too late.