Twenty-four-year-old Mia Adair wakes on a Friday morning. As a child, Mia could see and communicate with spirits, an ability that made her famous as “Case 37” in her mother, Elizabeth’s, bestselling book on parapsychology. Mia’s father, Ben, died in a car accident when she was seven and her sister, Sasha, was three. After his death, Elizabeth became emotionally absent, leaving Mia to care for Sasha. Ben’s spirit never appeared to Mia, frustrating Elizabeth, who desperately wanted to hear from him.

Elizabeth often left the girls at Slow Burn, a local coffee and bookshop, where the owner, Mr. Horvath, began to care for them. Mia eventually worked there. In high school, Mia was rebellious, skipping classes to smoke or hang out with a boy named Dylan. Her psychic abilities faded during puberty, leaving her feeling aimless. Now she works at a chain bookstore and still receives royalties from her mother’s book.

A traumatic memory resurfaces of an incident Mia calls “The Accident.” When Mia was 10, concerned about intruders after her mother explained bad people might climb through windows, she set her father’s antique fox trap beneath her bedroom window. The next morning, she was awakened by screams. Their elderly neighbor and gardener, Mr. Charles, had stepped in the trap and broken his hip in the fall. Too frightened to confess, Mia said nothing as the adults assumed the rusty trap had been there for years. A week later, Mr. Charles died in the hospital. On the morning of the seventh day, his spirit visited Mia’s room, forgiving her and asking her to keep the accident between them.

In the present, Mia looks at herself in the mirror, at peace with her appearance, which resembles her father’s. She wears a necklace that says “Daddy” and her father’s simple silver ring. Downstairs, she finds Sasha, exhausted from law school studies. Mia orders her sister to skip class and sleep, making plans to go out that night. Before leaving for work, Sasha asks Mia to watch for their golden retriever, Cooper, and to report if the “weird girl” comes into the bookstore today.

Mia arrives at the bookstore in her father’s old Honda. She reflects on gossiping with Sasha about quirky regulars like Ace, a biker who buys cat books, and elderly Mrs. Ancaster, who claims to buy fetish magazines for their crosswords.

Recently, a group of strange new customers has been frequenting the store, browsing silently but never buying anything. One woman with blue hair has visited three days a week for two months, buying random books. Once, she asked Mia an odd question about the world ending and introduced herself as Cordelia before quickly leaving.

Cordelia enters with a blonde woman, who approaches the counter with a journal. She introduces herself as Kris and says she and Cordelia are “kind of family” (56). Kris leaves without taking her change. Mia sees tears in Cordelia’s eyes and, concerned, runs outside to return the money, awkwardly telling Cordelia she likes when she visits. Back inside, Mia silences her coworker Shelly’s mockery by threatening to report her for stealing from the register.

The rainy afternoon triggers memories of Slow Burn. Two weeks before Mia’s 18th birthday, she saw Mr. Horvath’s ghost in her doorway. Overcome with dread, she drove to the shop at nearly five o’clock in the morning and found the door unlocked and lights on. Inside, she discovered Mr. Horvath’s body behind the counter. The police chief, aware of her abilities, accepted her explanation. Mr. Horvath’s sons boarded up the shop, which has remained empty for six years. Mia reflects on how it reminds her of “her own stasis” (63).

Driving home in heavy rain, Mia notices the black sports car with Cordelia and Kris following her, along with about six other vehicles. A mile from home, Cooper chases a rabbit across the road. Mia swerves to avoid the dog, loses control on the wet pavement, and crashes into a maple tree.

Dazed and bleeding heavily from her head, Mia sees a group of strangers watching from the roadside, including Kris and Cordelia. None move to help, while some are smiling. Mia realizes she is paralyzed and cannot speak or move. As consciousness fades, Cordelia approaches, apologizes, and says they will “talk soon” before injecting a syringe of dark fluid into Mia’s chest. Mia’s vision dims, her final awareness focused on the silver ring on her hand. She accepts death.

A voice declares she is “gone,” while another instructs someone to call emergency services. The group disperses, leaving only Cordelia, Kris, and another woman named Izzy at the scene.

Cordelia, Kris, and Izzy remain, planning to pose as passersby who witnessed the accident. A police officer arrives and finds no pulse. Kris employs a mental ability called a Veil, implanting the story that Mia swerved because of a dog and died instantly when she hit the tree, which the officer then repeats.

Cordelia reflects that she is a healer who dislikes causing pain, unlike Kris and Izzy. A flashback reveals that at age six, Cordelia healed a neighbor’s daughter of cancer, an event that drew attention to her abilities and eventually led to her current existence. When the coroner arrives, Kris Veils her, ensuring the death is processed as a routine traffic fatality. The act chills Cordelia, noting how much power Kris has.

Elizabeth arrives screaming for her daughter. She breaks through the police line, but Cordelia intercepts her before she can remove the sheet covering Mia’s body. Cordelia embraces Elizabeth, feeling the overwhelming force of her grief and using her healing power to flood Elizabeth with calming endorphins.

Kris approaches and, with Cordelia’s reluctant consent, uses a Veil on Elizabeth. The Veil commands Elizabeth to “be strong” for Sasha, to believe Mia “is in a better place,” and to “move on” from her grief (76). Kris takes Elizabeth home to ensure she is settled. Kris instructs Cordelia and Izzy to meet her at the morgue, explaining that the initial Veil on the coroner will hold until she can reinforce it later.

Cordelia and Izzy follow the coroner’s van to the morgue, where the woman processes Mia’s body and places it in a cold chamber. Kris arrives hours later and confirms that Elizabeth has agreed to a quick funeral. Cordelia reflects on their plan: Mia’s body will not be embalmed, as chemicals would interfere with her transformation.

The next day, the women watch from the parking lot as Elizabeth and Sasha identify Mia’s body at the morgue, then follow the hearse to Riddley Funeral Home. Kris goes with another Family member to sort through Mia’s possessions. She returns announcing the funeral is scheduled for the following afternoon.

On the day of the funeral, members of the Sutton and Bellamy Families arrive in a dozen cars and watch mourners enter. They go inside in pairs, pretending to be acquaintances of Mia’s and offering rehearsed condolences to Elizabeth and Sasha.

Inside, Cordelia approaches Sasha, who recognizes her from the bookstore. Sasha mentions that Mia found Cordelia interesting and says she believes her sister was destined to “make history.” Cordelia sees Elizabeth across the room, heavily medicated and drinking. Luca, a Family member Cordelia considers a brother, warns her not to approach Elizabeth.

Luca and Cordelia observe that the two Families are keeping to opposite sides of the room. At the casket, Luca notes that Mia’s body is already healing from the transformation. Sasha joins them and explains that Mia wanted to wear her Daddy necklace at the funeral to make people uncomfortable, and that Sasha secretly placed it on her in the casket against their mother’s wishes.

During the service, Sasha delivers a eulogy describing Mia as someone who dreamed big but was too “afraid of making the wrong choice” (88), urging others to live their dreams for Mia. Elizabeth closes the casket lid, kisses it, and leaves with Sasha. After the other mourners depart, Family members dressed as cremation employees enter to retrieve Mia’s body as she prepares to awaken into her new existence.