Mandy takes up residence in a cabin on Lake Michigan to sort out an unfulfilled life. She desires to make changes, and hopes to write while she stays for the month of October. While there, she finds twelve dead gulls floating on the water in front of her cabin. She makes it her mission to find the cause of their death and is suddenly aware of how often the number twelve comes through in our lives; twelve jurors, twelve knights of the Round Table, twelve disciples. It strikes her that this number may have universal importance and she wonders about its significance to her. An almost-tragedy leads her to communicate with her dead mother, and meet Jackson and his dog, who encourage her to open her heart. While lurking in the shadows is a psychopath who causes destruction on the shores of the big lake, pushing Mandy toward danger.