Charlie Asher is a beta male, one of the countless guys who survive in the gene pool by doggie paddling in the shallow end. He doesn't take risks and he seriously hates change. But Charlie's safe life is about to take a really weird detour. On the day his daughter, Sophie, is born, his wife dies of a freak medical condition. As if being a widower and the single parent of a newborn aren't enough, soon people begin to drop dead around Charlie. Suddenly his quiet life is crowded by giant ravens, hounds from hell, a mysterious date book with a list of "appointments," a stubborn old lady who refuses to accept the inevitable, and a wily Buddhist named Audrey.