In 1965, after provoking a fire in a forest, the rebel teenager Heather Fasulo is sent to the boarding school Falburn Academy in the middle of the woods by her estranged mother Alice Fasulo and her neglected father Joe Fasulo. The dean Ms. Traverse accepts Heather in spite of the bad financial condition of her father. The displaced Heather becomes close friend of he weird Marcy Turner, while they are maltreated by the abusive mate Samantha Wise. During the nights, Heather has nightmares and listens to voices from the woods, and along the days she believes that the school is a coven of witches. When some students, including Marcy, simply vanish, Heather believes she will be the next one.

Suddenly the US east coast is hit by a type of natural disaster formerly reserved, except after a major earthquake, for the Pacific and Indian ocean rims: tidal waves of the destructive tsunami type. Scientist and fiction author John McAdams attends a national emergency conference which concludes the phenomenon must be man-made, quite possibly abusing the findings of John's secret former Sea Lion project, but who wants to and has the means? Indeed John soon finds himself set-up for a murder and chased. Major destructions mean major contracts for construction and coastal defenses, so building tycoons like Victor Bannister certainly have a considerable interest...