Way too young, 11-year-old Tucker Creed and his six-year-old neighbor, Sylvie Bissenette, find they have something awful in common. Creed then decides he's going to do everything in his limited power to shield his Sylvie from her ordeal. So he does, and Creed and Sylvie form a bond that grows and blossoms with their ages. They plot to leave their lives behind, the town they live in that will hold them down, and the histories they share that, unless they break free, will bury them.

Deacon has an ugly history, a history that broke him, leaving him a ghost of a man. Out of necessity he left the normal world to descend into the criminal world and found he fit. So he stayed. Cold as ice and living off the grid, Deacon has no intention to connect, not with anyone. Then he returns to some remote cabins in the Colorado Mountains and finds they have new owners. One of them is Cassidy Swallow, a young woman willing to work hard to live her quiet dream in a house by a river surrounded by aspen and pine.

Single mom Pepper Hannigan has put all she has into one goal - giving her daughter Juno the best life possible. That means no risks. No reckless nights. And no romance. Pepper refuses to let any Tom, Dick or Harry romance his way into her family of two, only to break both her and her little girl's hearts. But Juno has other plans.

Hattie Yates has finally met the man of her dreams. Yet years of abuse from her demanding father have left her petrified of disappointment. She's already failed to reach her goal of becoming a professional ballerina - she can't handle the terrible consequences of another dream becoming a nightmare. But when a stalker sets their sights on Hattie, there's only one man she dares to hope can help. Axl Pantera knows Hattie is the only woman for him. Yet despite the attraction burning between them, Hattie refuses to let him in.

Nick Sebring has issues. Born feeling like an outsider in his own family, growing up under the shadow of a brother who could do anything, Nick isn't that great of a guy. But when this culminates with Nick lashing out to hurt his brother through the woman he loves, Nick turns inward and makes some decisions about the man he intends to be. And as he does this, he falls in love and truly learns the man that he's grown to be.