Happy and innocent， Dawn s daughter Christie has grown up in the safest， most loving of homes... Yet Christie can t help feeling as if a dark cloud hovers over Cutler s Cove...a cloud whose origins lie in her family s troubled history， and the many questions no one， not even Dawn， will answer. Only one person can always chase away her blues: Gavin， Daddy Jimmy s young and handsome stepbrother. Then， in one harsh night， Christie s world is changed forever. She is shocked to discover her Uncle Philip s unbrotherly love for her mother but even worse is the way he now looks at Christie， his eyes bright with tortured passion. Fleeing to New York City， she finds her real father...a pathetic， helpless has-been. Desperate and heartbroken， she turns to Gavin， who travels with her to The Meadows， the plantation where Christie was born. In Gavin s arms， in the first， tender moments of true love， Christie finds a refuge from her painful memories. But The Meadows is blighted by its own dark secrets -- and all too soon Christie is torn from Gavin s embrace. Now as black storms of evil gather around her， Christie must struggle to break the cruel bonds of the past...to defy the curse that has haunted Cutler s Cove for generations....