Jack Faust is just like everybody else--if everyone else was an undead, mostly-frozen winter hellion caught between this world, the next, and all the options that entails. Long story short, he'd really like to get back into Hell. He's been alive too long, and well... after what he's done, Heaven isn't quite on the table. Admittance back into Hell after getting kicked out will take something bigger than he's ever done before: human sacrifice. Jack's not picky; virtually anyone will do. So when he encounters a difficult security guard standing between him and the book he needs, he thinks, why not? Unfortunately for Jack, Finnegan is much more than he bargained for.

Rose Avenue is a little heaven in the summer. The children play, the mothers rest, and Carlota watches it all from her chair on the porch. Everything runs like clockwork--that is, until Carlota's radio stops working. Next door, Mr. Martirez's car dies. Across the street, Mrs. Velez's power has gone out. And up in the sky, something is falling. Fast.