Michelle thought she'd lost everything she cared about when she was 17. That was the summer her world-famous, Hollywood legend of a father summoned her to spend a summer with him on his ranch in Montana - to get to know each other. Though he still seemed an unapproachable star, she loved the ranch and her life there. She also discovered Sam that summer, just another cow hand on the ranch, but to Michelle he was the man she had always dreamed of.
Her father finds out about their affair and not only fires Sam, banishing him back to the wrong side of the tracks but destroys his family as well in one mighty blow. Pregnant and heartbroken, Michelle flees to a new life in Seattle. There she is successful and safe - safe from love, safe from hurt but her son is lost to her, a troubled teen on the verge of self-destruction, a boy who blames her for the absence of his father and grandfather. And then one day her father calls to tell her he is dying. He has only one chance to live - if she will donate a kidney to save him. And she goes, resolved to save her father, terrified to face Sam but driven by desperation to save her son. To do that, she must face all the secrets of the past and find a way to heal the scars and love again.