Reporter Jake Martin and lawman Edgar Quinn have come to Sanderson, a tiny south Georgia town, to escape their pasts and resurrect their careers. Jake settles in as editor of the local newspaper and writes about cow rescues and civic club meetings. Quinn becomes police chief and starts chaperoning high school spring dances and cleaning up Senior Week pranks. The town's sedate routine is shattered when three local malcontents are killed one-by-one in sadistic rituals. Working together on the murders, Jake and Quinn discover they aren't the only Sanderson residents running from their pasts. Jake and Quinn learn much about themselves, but can they learn enough about the people closest to them in time to prevent the killer from striking again? As Jake and Quinn come to realize, everyone at some point in their lives needs a second chance. In The Second Chapter of a Bad Dream, someone is willing to resort to extraordinary measures to get that second chance.