As outcasts at the prestigious Thornton Academy, Elizabeth Douglass and Daniel Suko gravitate toward each other. She is struggling against her parents' piety and preoccupation with Creole roots, whereas he is hell bent on creating his own identity in a country that is not his own. Caught up in the electric intensity of this boy who is unlike anyone she knows, the teenage Elizabeth loses herself completely in Daniel and marries him during their high school senior trip. However, her enthusiasm wanes when she returns home and is faced with the volatile fury of her parents. Quickly recanting, Elizabeth begs Daniel to keep quiet about the marriage, claiming that it wasn't real. As a result, she loses a friend, a husband, her family, and so much more. She sets into motion a chain of events so injurious that not even thirteen years of separation can fully erase. And now when Elizabeth is on the verge of achieving her ultimate dream, Daniel reappears in her life, intent on resurrecting the marriage that very few knew existed. He is prepared to destroy everything she's built for herself unless she agrees to his terms, leaving Elizabeth to wonder if what he once said still holds true: "An apology means nothing when the damage done is irrevocable."