Tristan Cosgrove is an attorney with a personal problem. A big one, one that's both legal and ethical. And a lot of people could get hurt. When he meets Olympia, she is the most beautiful girl he has ever seen. Both are teenagers, and despite their hesitations, fall in love. But they soon learn that their romance is worse than taboo in the conservative state of Nebraska in 1960, because they are first cousins. When their grandmother and parents discover their feelings, Tristan and Olympia are forced apart. Tradition, family fear, and state law dictate their breakup. Accepting their fate with difficulty, the cousins marry other people. But the heartache of soul mates is not so easily cured. Now, nearly two decades later, the fire of their suppressed love rekindles, and the two struggle to justify what both so desperately want. Will they succeed in reclaiming their passion without destroying themselves? Or will an irresistible deadly force ruin the Cosgrove family as well as their own integrity and even their lives?