It starts with a nightmare. Rachel Darwin is pregnant, shackled, giving birth to something terrible, attended to by a dark man in a brimmed hat. She struggles to wake, opens her eyes and he is there. The next day she finds out she's not alone, many others see that Hat Man too.Rachel speaks of the Hat Man at group therapy. The addicts and loners reject her, except for William (of the latter). He believes her more than she believes herself. Multidimensional beings, shadows that feed upon human souls etc.She seeks the aid of William who puts her under hypnosis and guides her deeper than mere dreams into astral projecting. But it is getting harder to know what is real and what is not and that includes the Hat Man.