Seventeen-year-old Avery Ross is unwittingly tossed out of the frying pan and into the fire when she's sent from New York to the vast nowhere land of western North Dakota, with a train ticket, a bad attitude, and an unfortunate scribbling of obscenities across her forehead. When a hazel-eyed boy with a sultry Texan accent comes to her defense against a train passenger, she has no clue that their chance encounter will lead her into a stormy summer, full of temptation and loss where she ends up imparting sweet revenge on her parents and trying to win the boy of her dreams. While under the impression she's being sentenced to punishment working at her aunt's boardinghouse outside of Williston, Avery recognizes a connection between her aunt and the striking boy's family. He and his nearly identical brothers are seeking revenge for the wrongful death of their oldest sibling and Avery becomes entangled in their vengeful battle over oil rights, loyalty and love. She falls for the brooding Gabriel Halden, the youngest of the brothers, against her aunt's forewarnings, and unfolds more tribulation than any of them can anticipate.