In Matilda's sixteenth summer, two events change her placid life at Hafton Castle. She falls in love with the handsome guard Jondalar, and she is chosen to be waiting-lady for the Queen of Scots who is brought to the castle as a "guest".

When Matilda learns that Jondalar has deceived her, as he plots against the queen, she must choose between her love and betrayal of the woman she is obliged to serve.

Leah's husband lives in a locked ward for the mentally ill. Scott and his wife live together in an empty marriage. Day after day as counselor and principal of a small town high school, Leah and Scott forge a bond of love based on respect and common goals. When Leah's son turns from star athlete to using drugs and Scot's daughter gets pregnant by the school board chairman's son, they are forced to choose between their family obligations and desire. 

Joanna returns to a small Missouri town for her high school reunion and comes face to face with Pete, the love of her life. A college professor in Tennessee, she has never married and Pete, a prosperous farmer, is now a widower with five children. Their attraction is as strong as it was on graduation night when Pete was leaving for boot camp. He never knew that Joanna had his child and gave her up for adoption. And Joanna doesn't know that her baby girl, Beth, is now married and has begun a search for her birth parents. Will Beth find what she is looking for? And will Pete and Joanna, despite their diverse lives, rediscover a love that has come full circle?