In the northern Californian town of Coventry, two teenage brothers go into the woods one day only one comes back No one knows what happened to the younger brother, Josh, until twenty years later, when the older brother, Oren, now an ex-investigator for the Army Criminal Investigations Department, returns home after many years His first morning back, he hears a thump on the front porch Lying in front of the door is a human jawbone, teeth still intact It is not the first such object, his father tells him Other remains have been left there as well Josh is coming home Bone by bone