The sleepy community of Brewster, Rhode Island, is just like any other small American town. It's a place where most of its inhabitants will die blocks from where they were born; where gossip spreads like wildfire, and the big weekend entertainment is the inevitable fight at the local bar.

But recently, something out of the ordinary - perhaps even supernatural - has been stirring. Packs of coyotes gather and a baby is stolen and replaced with a snake - a series of inexplicably violent acts which confound Detective Woody Potter, and inspire terror in the locals . . .