A family desperate for money. A child prodigy-the heir to the family fortune-missing. Riverview House holds many secrets. Mark Newlin is a history professor at Gold College in southwestern Illinois. When tragedy thrusts him into a life he doesn't want, well-meaning friends send him to a bed-and-breakfast on the river for rest and healing. But Riverview House is not the peaceful retreat described in the brochure. A nineteenth-century mansion built on the upper Mississippi River, for years it was the symbol of the Channon family's prestige and their right to a place in American aristocracy. After several generations, the family has lost most of its money, and none of its arrogance. And the future of everything depends on one man. The heir to the Channon fortune. Whom no one has heard from in years. Mark and his assistant Sean Merritt find themselves in the midst of an unusual family gathering. Against his will, Mark is drawn into the Channon family's struggles. And as his concern for the heir's welfare increases, he discovers the power to heal in the most unlikely place.