By the time they reach eighteen, Joni and Caycee have been best friends their entire lives-growing up at each other's houses, as close as sisters. But everything changes when Joni's grandmother, who raised her, dies, and Lewis comes to town. Within a few months, Joni has left to go to college hundreds of miles away without even saying goodbye to Caycee, who is left behind, bewildered, hurt, and aching with loneliness. Not even being married to Lewis and carrying his child can fill the hole left by Joni's mysterious departure and subsequent silence. When their premature baby dies, Lewis's lack of love for Caycee and their very different reactions become clear-and finding an infant girl named Madisin left on their doorstep only complicates matters further. In the same marriage and under the same roof, they live vastly different emotional lives. Only years later, when tragedy strikes Caycee and Lewis again and Joni is persuaded to return, is the truth about Joni's disappearance brought to light. She and Caycee are finally reconciled, but with consequences far greater than anyone could have imagined. This novel, woven together in the voices of its five main characters, reveals the complexity of human nature in its portrayal of fierce love, searing grief, self-hatred, surprising tenderness, and attraction that survives even while it destroys. In the end, one question remains: in a world where intentions don't always have the expected outcomes, should the truth prevail in every situation, regardless of the cost?