Loren Soto meets Nicholas Grey at the age of fourteen on sleepy Kiawah Island - and ever since she can't seem to shake him no matter how hard she tries. They grow together, developing a love affair torrid enough to send a mountain crumbling to the ground. And just as everything appears to be set in place, Nicholas interrupts the course and marries Loren's oldest friend and Charleston's princess, Sadie Vansant instead. Disillusioned and angry, Loren then occupies her time with Oliver Russo, a Vansant childhood friend who mysteriously returns home just in time for the wedding. Loren then begins to notice that there may be more to Oliver and Sadie's friendship than they let on, and subtle truths and revelations inevitably lead toward an unveiling of secrets that no one, least of all, Loren, is prepared for.