Mina Murray is followed by death--at least, that's the rumor in her small town of New Whitby. An aspiring photojournalist, she has a knack for finding herself in unsettling situations to find interesting shots, like on the deck of the recently crashed boat the Demeter. While exploring the wreckage, Mina comes across large cases of dirt and debris--and the decaying body of the ship's captain.

Intrigued by the ghastly scene, Mina tries to unearth more information about the abandoned ship, the captain, and the missing crew. Instead, she finds herself roped into her high school's newspaper club covering the big school dance her BFF, Lucy, is coordinating. It's a major bummer, but all might not be too bad if it gets her closer to Jon, her crush and guitarist for the local punk band the Romeros.

But instead of catching Jon's eye, Mina enters the orbit of Raf, the brooding (and frankly, hot) transfer student who has everyone under his thrall. As Raf's popularity grows and the dance draws near, sinister events begin to shake the core of the school: The head of the newspaper club gains an unseemly appetite for flies. Jon is getting close to Raf. And Lucy falls ill . . . with strange puncture wounds on her neck. Mina starts to suspect that new student is hiding a dark and terrible secret . . . but will she be able to figure it out before it's too late?