The year is 1804. Lady Olivia Sophia Allen Townsend has just turned 20 years old. She is beautiful, well-educated and considered by some in polite society to be far too eccentric for her own good. When Olivia was younger, she was very open about her gift of being able to see spirits. But the shunning by her peers has caused her to turn her back on those who need her the most - spirits caught between two worlds. That is until her best friend Lilly Collins comes to her in the middle of the night and asks for her help. Lilly can't remember what happened to her and finds herself in need of Olivia's unique gifts.

Olivia's younger sister, Coco, is also gifted with a unique set of skills - she can touch someone and know things about them that they would sometimes prefer to keep hidden. Together, the sisters set off on a sea voyage, from Ireland to America, intent on solving the mystery of Lilly's untimely death.

Brody and Quinton Beaumont, fine-looking, eligible, southern American gentlemen, and heirs to a successful cotton empire, are twins hiding a deep dark secret. Their mother, Annabelle Beaumont, died eight years earlier on the night of their annual birthday winter ball, yet she continues to rule over their plantation home with an iron fist.

Olivia, drawn to no man, feels suddenly akin to Brody Beaumont, but she must figure out if she can trust him, and if he or his brother had anything to do with Lilly's death.