Summoned by his father to return home immediately, Dougall MacRae knows he cannot leave without his beloved Helene. He asks her to marry him and accompany him back to Castle Treun unaware that his father has plans for him to wed another in an attempt to strengthen clan alliances. He can keep Helene as a mistress, but not as his wife.

Helene has lived her whole life at Breaghacraig and has left it all behind to marry Dougall. She refuses, however, to remain at Castle Treun as his mistress. Fleeing in the dark of night with no idea how to return to Breaghacraig, Helene stumbles upon a beautiful stone bridge. Devastated and alone she contemplates life without Dougall. As she pleads aloud for someone to help her, she is engulfed in a thick fog and when it clears she finds herself in the year 2016 in San Francisco, California, where Dougall's betrayal has led her into the arms of the kind, handsome stranger who saves her in her hour of need.