To the outside world, they seem to have it all. Cassie Barrett, a renowned anthropologist, and Alex Rivers, one of Hollywood's hottest actors, met on the set of a motion picture in Africa. They shared childhood tales, toasted the future, and declared their love in a fairy-tale wedding. But when they return to California, something alters the picture of their perfect marriage. A frightening pattern is taking shape-a cycle of hurt, denial, and promises,...

With a secretive widow, a love-struck cowboy and a suspicious rancher standing in her way, Cassie Lockwood struggles to fulfill her father's dream of starting a horse ranch among the Black Hills of South Dakota.

In 1977, a little boy is savagely attacked by his mother's pet Doberman; in 1997 another little boy disappears from his grandmother's backyard on a sunny summer morning; in 1966, a pregnant teenager admits herself to a maternity home, with the intention of giving her child up for adoption; in 1991, a young man drifts toward a career as a drug dealer, even as he hopes for something better. Why do we become the people that we become? How do we end...

Janelle Marshall's life is finally going according to plan. Her perfect, upscale career--and her perfect, successful boyfriend--will make her future as secure and predictable as her childhood never was. And with luck, Little Bill, the grandfather who raised her will someday understand why she'd rather play it safe than be impulsive. But just when she should be happiest, she gets a distressing call: Little Bill has gone missing. Now Janelle must go...