Christine "Chrissy" is a famous journalist torn between her love for her father and her knowledge of how he has defrauded her and her sister Marlene of their mother's inheritance. At the same time, she struggles with the haunting loss of her first love. She feels alone in her quest for justice after she learns that her sister and grandmother Gracie Mae do not share her enthusiasm to pursue the matter of the inheritance with her father. She assumes a new identity which keeps other members of her family from finding her for years. Her disappearance brings the issue of the disinheritance to her father's face and his wife, Carolyn. Carolyn becomes frustrated with the situation and works tirelessly for closure. Chrissy retreats to her own thoughts and a diary with hopes that her children could someday reconcile with those issues and places that bring the pain to their mother now.