It’s 1944. A twenty-three-year-old nurse named Tess has just ended her engagement to the love of her life when she agrees to marry another man. She moves to Hickory, North Carolina, a small town struggling with racial tensions and the hardships of World War II, where she soon realizes she’s trapped in a strange and loveless marriage with no way out.

The people of Hickory see Tess as an outsider, treating her with suspicion and disdain, leaving her feeling alone and adrift--and terrified. As Tess tries to understand her surroundings and untangle the truth behind her husband’s mysterious ways, can she find the love--and the life--she was meant to have…before it’s too late?