After her husband leaves her for a younger woman, forty-five-year-old Adrienne Willis reconsiders her entire life, until a trip to Rodanthe in North Carolina's outer banks leads to an encounter with successful surgeon Paul Flanner.
A young orphan, afraid of being sent to the workhouse, finds himself at the mercy of the unsavory owner of a tavern in Alexandria, Virginia, while he tries to solve the mystery surrounding his past and a missing twin.