In September of 1956 seven special children were born in the small west Texas town of Eastland. One night a spectacular event takes place at the nursery which endows each of the seven with a special gift. These gifts range from Rebecca's clairvoyance to Timothy's musical prowess. Time reveals that with their gift each child also received a small part of one powerful entity which disseminated as it crossed the barriers of space and time. Another such entity came to rest in the body of Nurse Verna Calloway. At first the nurse is committed to an insane asylum, and it takes the creature inside of her years to adjust to the new reality. But finally she does, though it is after the children have all grown up and all but three have moved away. Verna reaches out to Derek Lowrance, the bad seed of the seven. Derek's gift allows him to feel the rush of power at the death of his victims. Over the years he has killed carefully, avoiding capture but not suspicion. It is easy for the nurse to convince Derek to kill one of the seven gifted. When he does this, he experiences a rush like never before and feels the transformation take place within him. The story follows Derek and Verna Calloway in their quest to reunify the second entity through the death of the remaining gifted. It also spends time with two of the gifted, as they discover what is happening and join forces to try and stop it.