In the title story, "A Betrayal," a doctor travels into the countryside to help a young patient, only to deliver a diagnosis with which the girl's family vehemently disagrees. The peculiar narrator of "Sedgefield's Diary" recoils in horror when he discovers that the hourly diary he keeps has taken on a life of its own and now threatens his very existence. The bereaved wife in "The Lake of Flies" takes matters into her own hands when she learns the truth surrounding her husband's death. In "Barnegat Inn," a strange visitation becomes the background for a poignant recitation on the nature of time. The themes of loss and betrayal between rival siblings are explored in "The Crystal," a story pulsating with an ethereal, otherworldly quality. And in "A Journey Through the Wormhole," a decades-old feud between rival scientists threatens to upend a scientific revolution.