1926, Gracetown, Florida. A young Mazelle sets out from her Florida home to find the Wishing Pool, and make her wish for a better life. A best friend forever, who will love her better than anyone else. When Scout the Wonder Dog appears, it seems her wish has come true, and she is suddenly a star of the silver screen, her entire family lifted from poverty. Johnny Washington, Mazelle's grandson, late in his screenwriting career, needs a break after a major project falls through. So he takes his wife and daughters out to Mazywood, the remote retreat he inherited from his grandmother. But wishes are tricky things, and fame isn't always fortune. Hidden in the forest around Mazywood is a legacy of pain and sorrow, of a family turned against itself by legacies of racism. As they uncover Mazelle's lost legacy, a terrifying creature stalks the woods, and Johnny and his family are thrust into a desperate fight for survival in the icy wilderness around Mazywood.