Sarah Brandt is not completely surprised when her very proper mother asks her to attend a seance. She knows that Mrs. Decker still carries great guilt over the death of her older daughter, Maggie. So Sarah reluctantly accompanies her.
Though the spiritualist does seem to contact Maggie, Sarah remains skeptical. But Mrs. Decker is convinced and, unbeknownst to Sarah, returns to the Waverly Place town house for another seance. Only this time, one of the attendees doesn't succeed in speaking to the dead - she joins them.
Now, it's up to Sarah and Detective Sergeant Frank Malloy to protect Mrs. Decker from scandal. But first, they have to determine how a woman was murdered in the pitch dark when all the suspects were holding the hands of the persons next to them.