Elizabeth Hamilton's life is in disarray. She has moved with her husband Jamie to Little Rock, but she would give anything to move back to her beloved Chicago.
Jamie's long hours at his new job leave her to sulk about her new environment, and to worry that her lack of sexual responsiveness has left the relationship in limbo, in spite of her husband's unconditional love for her. It seems that all that she has left is to escape by spending her time reading novels of the paranormal.
The night before she and Jamie go to visit his uncle near Memphis, she has a vivid dream in which a much older man gives her a memorable spanking. They discover that the uncle's house harbors a real ghost, one who does not appear to wish to tolerate her sullen and ungrateful attitude, and sees to it that the next spanking she receives will not be merely a dream.