It has been 11 years since Thomas and Anna Lange's small son disappeared. Anna never gave up hope that Paul would be found and now, suddenly, he is found - living with a poor Southern couple in a small Georgia town. 

The woman who raised him has made a deathbed confession to her minister: Her husband Albert Rambo, had found the boy wandering on the highway. But now Rambo, a man with a long history of mental illness, has disappeared. 

The joy of Paul's return is soon clouded, for he's a shy, silent boy haunted by headaches, fainting spells and nightmares. Anna's obsessive concern takes toll on her marriage: Thomas, frustrated at not being able to reach his son - and no longer able to communicate with his wife - moves out. Their daughter, Tracy, is openly hostile to this strange brother who has become the focus of her mother's life. Only Anna believes that Paul's nightmares are connected with the night he disappeared, but Paul has no memory of that time. 

When Albert Rambo appears, offering information in exchange for money, Anna rushes to his hotel room. But her hopes are shattered when she finds Rambo dead - an apparent suicide that turns out to be murder. Suddenly Paul's terror seems to be increasing…

193