Regina is beautiful and intelligent, and has grown up on a Georgia plantation. When the plantation owner suddenly takes an interest in her, Regina's family sends her away. They think she is escaping, but they are sending her into an even more complicated - and dangerous - situation. Upon moving to Gatlin, North Carolina, she quickly falls in love with Jacob, the attractive black caretaker at the Mercantile where she now works and lives. She also attracts the attention of a wealthy white widower looking for a replacement of the Cherokee wife he lost. Regina suddenly finds herself involved in a triangle of love and deception, where she is hated for the color of her skin, and loved for the wrong reasons. Through her trials, Regina finds strength within herself that she didn't realize she had, and it eventually leads her through pain and heartache. She discovers that sometimes love isn't what you first imagined, and the only one who can truly save her is herself.