Finding her wandering the streets of Boston in a daze, Sheriff Malcom Snyder gives Elizabeth Shepherd a name but no identity. He cruelly locks her in his cellar and keeps her captive for five years until one evening when she escapes with his truck, his money, and his five-year-old daughter, Sally. They flee to a place hidden within the woodlands of Maine—beautiful Sebec Lake, dump his truck in its deep waters, and then unexpectedly run into Sam Hancock, a young college professor with a camp at the lake. Sam recognizes the signs of abuse and gives them a safe place to hide while he takes off on a perilous journey to Taunton, MA, to clear Elizabeth's name from the nationwide smear campaign the sheriff initiates and the reward money he cunningly hangs over her head. But Sam must hurry before the corrupt sheriff uncovers the trail that leads to his cabin and to the young woman and little girl he is trying to protect.