In the North Georgia Mountains, a happy little girl is enveloped in the smell of dogwood blooms, love, and adventure-until everything changes. He comes into her life like a snake bite, the venom seeping into her veins until she suffocates in his shadow.

She discovers that freedom is not a trip to a distant shore and the perfect happily ever after. Freedom must be defined by her alone as she struggles to find herself, and healing, in the hidden beauty all around her. She personifies hope in a world that has been anything but hopeful, determined to shine beyond the darkness as she fights for her life.