Laura Reed had a good life: a loving, successful husband, a delightful six-year-old son and a career as a writer and illustrator of children's books. Life would have been perfect if she just could get her mother-in-law to like her. But still, life was great—until the New Year's Eve her husband was murdered by a mysterious stranger who broke into their house.The police are convinced she did it. And her mother-in-law thinks she did it. Soon the whole town thinks so too. All except the handsome stranger named Ian that she meets at the marina. While struggling with her grief and police accusations, she falls in love with Ian and marries him. When startling facts surface concerning Ian's past, the police start closing in. Even Laura begins to doubt Ian, leaving her with no one to trust when they come to arrest her for murder.