Shelley Blake is a nine-year-old child prodigy in a sixth-grade classroom when she first meets Christ Wright. He's the big boy in the desk behind who takes her under his protective wing, fending off the mean kids.But soon she leaves him behind to attend a different school and skip another grade. When she begins university, her classmates observe her extreme youth and obvious competence and walk a wide berth around her. Lonely, she meets charming Billy Zach, but new love soon turns to abuse. Shelley is too immature to know how to handle it when Billy simply disappears.Years later, when Chris suddenly shows up again in Shelley's life, she wonders if she can trust her growing attraction to him. She's already dealing with her father's worsening emphysema, her sister'ssecrets, and the uncertain demands of her still fledgling business, But things escalate when the police come back asking questions about Billy Zach. As more evidence is uncovered about Billy, and she's dogged by police interest, Shelley realizes none of it will matter if she's heading to prison for a murder she didn't commit.