While in Miami rehearsing for Tyler Kelly's ice show, Olympic gold medalist Leslie Lyons is brutally beaten by her boyfriend, Frank Garcia. Battered and bleeding, she escapes and heads to Murrells Inlet, South Carolina. Upon reaching the small town of McClellanville her car runs out of gas. This high-profile celebrity has no money, wears only a nightgown, and fears she will be recognized, or worse, photographed for the tabloids. By chance, Buddy Lucas comes to her aid - a coincidence that alters his life indelibly. Meanwhile, Frank, pursued by his bookie for gambling debts and addicted to cocaine and alcohol, relentlessly pursues Leslie and lands on the doorstep of Buddy Lucas. Buddy is soon embroiled in a struggle for his life . . . and a love he cannot accept for his own good and that of the woman he now loves so hopelessly--Leslie Lyons.