A NEGLECTED SECOND SON, Edward Rochester struggles in the shadow of his elder brother, whose jealous intrigues poison everything he touches. When Edward's long-cherished love and hopes for happiness with a childhood sweetheart are crushed by those intrigues, he is devastated. To blot out the bitter failure, Edward takes the unwelcome path laid out by his father and flees England. Certain he will never return, he embarks upon what becomes a fifteen year odyssey driven by the hope he might one day find such a love again. But when one disappointment after another weighs him down until he is resigned to a loveless existence, Edward finds himself returning to the family home he had once forsaken, never imagining that what awaits him will change his life—forever.