Emme, a demure young woman living on the fringes of Briarswood, is doomed to be an old maid. Her childhood friend is recently engaged to the town beauty, and Emme is reluctant to venture into society and find love. Instead she entertains idle dreams of Davian Hawthorn, a nobleman who disappeared nearly a century ago. When Davian¢s elderly sister, Lilly, and her daughter, Rosalie, return to claim his abandoned Estate, Emme discovers that he is still alive, held captive under a Sorceress’s curse. The curse leaves him suspended in time as a young man in an eternal slumber, only to be awakened by a kiss.
With Rosalie struggling to keep Davian’s existence a secret, only Emme believes in the curse and discovers his true whereabouts. To make matters worse, Rosalie intends to squander the family’s fortune, selling the Estate, along with Briarswood to developers and endangering the entire town. Emme must overcome her fears and risk her life on a perilous quest to awaken Davian before his inheritance is lost as well as her home. During her journey she unearths secrets about the parents that she never knew, learns to trust in herself, and discovers that true love is not won with a kiss, but cultivated and nourished over time.