Rynn Jacobs, aged 13, has rented a house with her father, who is a poet, in the small Canadian town of Wells. Mrs Hallet, the inquisitive and aggressive estate agent who leased the house, takes a dislike to the independent-minded Rynn, especially when she hears that her disturbed son Frank (a known child molester protected by his mother's influence in the town) has been lurking around the house.