One by one, three teenage girls are abducted from a small American town. The only trace of them is their clothes returned, washed, ironed and neatly folded. With each disappearance suspicion spreads among the townsfolk, initially falling on anyone "different" - the college Marxist group, the gay community - but soon extending to friends and neighbours, even the narrator himself. As panic grips the town, repressed desires, old angers and violent impulses rise to the surface, tearing the community apart to reveal the horrific darkness at its heart.