It's nearly Christmas, but seventeen-year-old Hope Novak just can't seem to get into the Christmas spirit. Over the summer she broke up with Shane Culver, the hottest guy at Oakmont High and Shane won't let her go. Everywhere Hope goes, Shane turns up. He finds a way to catch her by surprise, in a place where she can't get away. He tells her they were meant to be together, that he loves her, that if he can't have her . . . no one will.

From the day Hope broke up with Shane, he's been sending her cards, flowers, boxes of chocolate, and more. He's been leaving her messages late at night. Hope's friends think it's pretty romantic. Hope knows it's Shane's romantic dark side. He gets angry and chases her down if she even talks to another guy. Shane has a dark side that won't take "no" for an answer and never listens. Hope is deathly afraid of Shane and what he is capable of if he doesn't get her back.

Then the terror begins. Hope finds a note in her mailbox from someone who says he's watching her. She sees someone following her in the dark. Someone calls her and says bad girls must be punished, that sometimes bad girls die . . . A masked figure with an ax chases her through the woods. Now Hope wishes she'd never had anything to do with Shane. All she wants for Christmas is to get through the holiday alive.