Sixteen-year-old aspiring artist Leni O'Hare loves brainy, gentle Caleb McGrath?so much so that she keeps from him a secret that would prevent their escape from their crumbling families and the remote Texas town that will surely crush their dreams. But the choice she makes casts a shadow that follows them both for generations?from Vietnam-era East Texas to New York City's downtown art scene in the 1980s, up to the present day. What will it take for the secret to be revealed?