Recently widowed, Alicia Hawkins can no longer live in the New York apartment she shared with her husband. She leaves the city behind for a small fishing village in Duxbridge, Massachusetts, where she purchases a rundown house the locals have dubbed Blackwater Cottage. But the quiet life and beautiful views are disrupted by secret notes and unexplained phenomena. During renovations, Alicia discovers an old leather-wrapped diary hidden between the studs of a bedroom wall. She can't help but wonder who it belonged to and why the locals are so determined to get her to leave, but the diary may hold the answers to Blackwater Cottage's disturbing history.