Miles Ryan's life seemed to end the day his wife was killed in a hit-and-run accident two years ago. His high school sweetheart, Missy had been his first love, and Miles truly believes she will be his last. The sheriff of the North Carolina town of New Bern, Miles Ryan not only grieves for Missy, but longs to bring the unknown driver to justice as well.Then Miles meets Sarah Andrews. The second grade teacher of his only child Jonah, Sarah had left Baltimore after a difficult divorce to start over in the gentler surroundings of New Bern. Perhaps it is her own emotional wounds that makes her sensitive to the hurt she first sees in Jonah's eyes, and then his father's. Tentatively, Sarah and Miles reach out to each other. Soon, they are both laughing again for the first time in years—and falling in love.Neither will be able to guess how linked they are by a tie to the past that will force them to question everything they ever believed in—a truth that can keep them apart forever.