All Stella wants is to escape her abusive and controlling husband, Robert, the department head at a local Oregon university. So when the opportunity arises, Stella takes her teenage twins, Loreen and Gabriel, and breaks free. They move in with her long-lost sister Katrina and Katrina's husband Marcus, a long-haul trucker, in the small, beachside town of Monarch Bay, California.

What happens to Stella and the people she loves most is a drama filled with surprises of unexpected love and compassion, longed-for family loyalty, and unforeseen caring.

Stella finds a job working for David, a recent widower and owner of Patti's Pastries, and she volunteers to be a surrogate for Kat and Marcus. The twins adjust well to their new home, although Loreen's biker boyfriend, Harley, gives Stella reasons to worry for her daughter's future.

Just as Stella, David, and the twins find footing in Monarch Bay, Robert shatters their newfound peace and threatens them all. Will Stella ever escape the monster who has brutalized her for years? Will they all survive to enjoy the life they richly deserve?