When Scott and Linda Gardner hire Julian Sawyer to tutor their troubled teenage son Brandon, Julian seems like the answer to a prayer. He's bright, courteous, refined, and connects with Brandon in a way neither of his parents can. They embrace Julian almost as a member of the family. But the tutor has his own dark agenda. For Julian, the Gardners are like specimens in jars, creatures to be studied - and manipulated. Each member of the family unintentionally reveals a secret to the tutor, giving him just the ammunition he needs to destroy them, one by one. Only Ruby, the Gardners' eleven year-old daughter, senses that Julian might not be what he seems and sets out to combat this seductive evil.