Hallie Owen, a magazine columnist from Detroit, Michigan, travels to Alburn, Texas, to pursue the coveted dream of writing the history of the town's most prominent family, Winston Alburn Mitchell. Too soon, Hallie finds herself struggling to keep secrets she wished she had never heard. The spoiled, 21-year-old Cleo Mitchell told her father and grandfather that she hired Hallie to write the Mitchell family history. But Cleo has an ulterior motive. She lured Hallie to help Cleo expose a dark secret about a man Cleo's father is defending in court. Hallie goes along with Cleo's deception, hoping it will land her the job she really wants -- the professional historical writer of the Mitchell family. Hallie meets Cleo's father, the handsome Mitch. From the moment their eyes meet for the first time, Hallie and Mitch fall deeply in love, just one more thing tugging at Hallie to run away. In the few days that Hallie is in Alburn, she becomes submerged in the Mitchell's family problems. Her effort to maintain conflicting loyalties is futile. She is immersed in an explosive situation that is bound to detonate at any moment. Hallie winds up in the middle of a very dangerous turn of events -- events that threaten the life, love, and happiness of all involved.