Mike Dolan's first novel, ""Glory Days,"" was a runaway bestseller and a blockbuster movie. Now, six years later, without having written a single word of the highly anticipated sequel, this 27-year-old author reluctantly returns to his home of Lake Glory, Maine for inspiration. The people of Lake Glory - whose personal lives and dirty laundry were the fodder for Mike's book - welcome him back with all the warmth and enthusiasm of a lynch mob. His first instinct is to flee. Instead, Mike makes the difficult choice to stay put and mend fences, and in the process learns that while you can go home again, there's no guarantee it will be easy.

Mike returns home to Glory Island and witnesses a murder aboard the ferry. A sinister board game may hold the clue to the series of mysterious occurrences in town.

Mike interviews a young piano prodigy who claims to be possessed by a demon. The town holds auditions for a local production of The Wizard of Oz. Mitzi and Hazel squabble over Hazel’s years-ago affair with Mitzi’s husband.

When Sam becomes third in a string of abducted girls, Mike, Ellie and Rudy hasten to learn the kidnapper's identity. They also investigate a psychic who claims to have known that Sam and her friend would be abducted. Meanwhile, the missing girls find themselves in a frightening predicament.

FBI agents arrive in Glory in an attempt to track down a serial killer. Mike is suspicious of Ellie's visiting friend and snoops through his belongings, finding an incriminating videotape. Meanwhile, Mitzi encourages Sara to spend some time with a pediatrician from out of town.

After Rudy and Mike have a run-in with some strange young women who claim to be vampires, Ellie discovers that the body of a murder victim was drained of blood. Mike is convinced that the death and vampirism are related, but Rudy remains skeptical. Meanwhile, Zane is given an invitation by one of the self-proclaimed vamps, and Ellie takes a painting class.

Rudy gets locked up in his own jail when a woman the sheriff met through personal ads is killed shortly after their date—and his fingerprints are found on the murder weapon. Mike follows leads on potential suspects, who include the peculiar personals editor and a woman who had a key to the victim's house. Meanwhile, a cheerleader asks Zane out.

An eccentric resident is found murdered after he stumbles upon strange tubes in the ground that lead to a man who has been buried alive in a coffin. Meanwhile, Mitzi plans a welcome party for her friendly new neighbors, and Sam takes an interest in the couple's son.

The murder of a beauty pageant contestant leads Mike, Rudy and Ellie to suspect the separated woman's husband. Meanwhile, Sam sets her sights on an older man; Mike interviews the victim's brother—a local hero—for the paper; and Ellie is jealous over Mike's reunion with an ex-girlfriend.

An attempt by the Glory Chamber of Commerce to cheer up the town by bringing in a clown troupe backfires when an unidentified harlequin commits a series of grisly murders. Rudy has a romantic encounter with Sara's visiting friend, but it sours when he begins to suspect her of being the killer. Meanwhile, Ellie tells Mike how she really feels about the quality of his writing.