Suspended female 911 dispatcher Avery Quinn returns to her hometown of Belvider, West Virginia, only to hear the abandoned mine disaster siren sound a thirteenth time during the annual "Town Founding Revival Festival".
The entire town's residents, as if in a trance, made their way toward the Black Valley Coal Mine that had been sealed off for eighteen years. Amid the chaos, Nora, the elder sister, grabbed Avery and only managed to utter one sentence:
"When you wake up next time, don't let him strike the thirteenth chime. "
Avery opened his eyes again and found himself back nine days ago.
She is the only person in the town who retains cyclic memories.
She quickly established three rules:
1. No one can ever leave the town of Belwether.
2. The priest in charge of the ritual, Cyrus Mercer, must not die prematurely, otherwise the cycle will restart immediately.
3. When the thirteenth alarm sounds, the entire town will be permanently sealed off.
Even more dangerously, time outside the town has not reset. The Federal Geological Emergency Department has detected the date dislocation and is preparing to seal off the coal mine and abandon the entire town before the anomaly spreads.
Avery has at most four cycles left.
