In this third installment of the Love, Loss, and Honor series, Karen Williams-Schmidt's children are approaching adulthood. The week of her son Bill's high school graduation, he commits what may be the biggest mistake of his life. Bill's error starts Carrie Bennett, his best friend since childhood, down her own dark path of abuse and Stockholm Syndrome. Heartbroken, Bill bounces between temporary jobs on ranches and farms while also trying to find someone he can love. The conflict between the two rural youths leaves an international path of destruction involving competing Mediterranean crime bosses, Interpol, even a small Hutterite community.

Then there is Paul, the law enforcement cousin of Bill's dead war hero father. What's his deal?