Kester Lanner didn't know what he was getting into when he followed his mother's dying request to contact the mysterious Dr. Ribero. Kester's youthful surety of the world is shaken as he learns the secrets his mother took great care to keep. Meeting Dr. Ribero reveals a side of his mother he never even guessed existed, for Ribero is his long lost father, and soon Kester is thrown headlong into the family business: catching supernatural spirits. A logically-minded academic type, Kester is frightened by the sudden plunge into an unknown and dangerous world. He's intrigued, despite his fear, as he reads an old diary that tells the chilling tale of the portrait of a beautiful woman, which is the home of an old and malevolent spirit. She's a cunning spirit, and she just might be more than Dr. Ribero's agency can handle. Kester soon becomes enmeshed in a struggle with a ghost so powerful and haunting that his first real case with the family business might just be his last.