Berlin, Christmas, the dark of night . . .
Sixteen-year-old Alissa and her best friend Evelin set off on their secret pilgrimage to the grave of Alissa's dad, as they've done every year since he died. Lost in the cemetery, scraping through thick snow to feel out the names etched on icy tombstones, Alissa stumbles into a subterranean crypt. By candlelight, she detects a child's casket with a veined purple plant growing up through its lid. Strangely compelled, she opens the coffin, severing the dark growth from its roots - which had wormed their way into the corpse's heart. Soon the hypnotic plant takes hold of Alissa, too.
Seduced by visions, she starts to lose sight of reality. Can Evelin save Alissa from her terrible new powers
- and from Simon, her stalker ex-boyfriend?