Dani Carter was seven years old -- her sister, Rose, seventeen -- when their beautiful, impetuous mother, Maria, walked out of their lives, abandoning her husband and family for a love affair. Over the decades that followed, Dani has married a successful man and given birth to a wonderful son. But love has long been missing from her marriage, propelling her into the arms of another and inspiring troubling thoughts of escape. The sins of the mother, Dani fears, have been visited upon the daughter.

Now that she finds herself in a similar heartbreaking situation, Dani can't help but wonder who Maria really was. It's a puzzle that may soon be completed, after a lifetime of searching for missing pieces. Maria, calling herself Mariah, is about to reenter her daughters' worlds, bearing secrets and bitter truths... and, perhaps, long-awaited answers to what could possibly drive a mother to sacrifice what was dearest to her heart.