Serafina, the daughter of a powerful Venetian counselor, secretly abandons ship--and her family bound for America--in a desperate attempt to return to her beloved, the dashing tutor her father had banished. Finding herself alone in England, she finally makes her way to an elderly aunt and a position as a lowly chambermaid at Harrow Hall. Heartbroken at the terrible distance still remaining between herself and her Luca back in Venice, she is feeling utterly distraught and frustrated when she learns of a betrayal beyond imagination….

A world-weary ship captain is forced to seek refuge at Harrow Hall as well, hiding from henchmen determined to silence his stunning disclosures about the ongoing slave trade in spite of British laws long since banning it. Jonathan Falconer has information for Parliament leading right to the Crown itself, and his enemies are dead set on stopping him.

Deep in the English countryside, the lives of these two become intertwined in startling ways as they discover that the past need not determine the future. A sanctuary that once seemed only a detour becomes a sacred venue for the unveiling of God's love and forgiveness.