Divorced and living alone for the first time in her life, 40-something Velvet Riverstone has found serenity in her new hometown of Savannah, Georgia. A book reviewer and assistant manager of The Dirty Old Boot occult bookstore on River Street, she lives with one foot in the mundane world and the other planted right into the heart of the underground. It's been one full year since Velvet's divorce from Mark Williamson, and in that year she has found solitude to be her salvation. Yet loneliness grips her and refuses to let go. Encouraged by shop owner Electra Savage, her wife Jane Perry, and a couple bottles of wine, Velvet casts a love spell at midnight on Halloween. Within a short time, her world turns upside down when she meets Nigel Blackmore, an older, exotic stranger from across the pond. As Velvet and Nigel revel in the bliss of new love, Velvet's abusive ex-husband arrives from Atlanta. Intent upon wooing her back into his life, he pursues her with a vengeance. In a desperate attempt to prove her bravery and to protect the new man in her life, Velvet confronts her ex one last time on the bank of the Savannah River. In the end, love wins.