Bag of Bones recounts the plight of bestselling novelist Mike Noonan, who is unable to stop grieving even four years after the sudden death of his wife. His nights are plagued by vivid nightmares of their house by the lake. Despite these dreams, or perhaps because of them, Mike finally returns to Sara Laughs, the Noonan's isolated summer home.

He finds his beloved Yankee town familiar on its surface, but much changed underneath -- held in the grip of a powerful millionaire, who seeks to take his three-year-old granddaughter away from her widowed young mother. As Mike is drawn into their struggle, as he falls in love with both of them, he is drawn into the mystery of Sara Laughs, now the site of ghostly visitations, ever -- escalating nightmares, and the sudden recovery of his writing ability. What are the forces that have been unleashed here -- and what do they want of Mike Noonan?