Miranda escapes to the islands off the North Carolina coast, resolving to rebuild her life and somehow prove to her skeptical grown daughter that she is not a pathetic one-off romance novelist still hung up on her ex. Then Austin blows into her life with a sweet friendship that makes Miranda feel desirable again. However, not all is as it appears, and the hidden truths of their lives seem destined to blow apart their new-found love. To complicate matters, a single woman on the island stirs up a lot of attention from a pack of lonely middle-aged men who circle her like hungry sharks trying to wedge their way into her life. Hidden secrets and complex inter-relationships abound on a small island where everyone is, or was, related. Miranda learns that other people's pasts can affect your future in ways that are simply stranger than fiction.