Beauty and the Beast may be a fairy tale, but for one woman its moral rings true in real life.

When Alix Miller goes to New Hampshire to paint a portrait of Leland Crompton, she is following family tradition—Miller artists have always painted the Crompton aristocrats. But the reclusive Leland is hideously disfigured by a rare genetic disease, and Alix is uncomfortable rendering him on canvas. She begins the task anyway, and through her art she gradually reveals a brave, sensitive man behind the mask of deformity. When Leland helps her through a terrible crisis, Alix is forced to reassess her priorities, and learns a valuable lesson about the transformative power of love.