Life can change in a matter of moments, as eighteen-year-old Mary Ellen finds out when her parents are killed in a tragic plane crash and she is faced with the loss, the pain, and the rebuilding of her life. The only child of Dallas and JoAnn McCarthy and mature beyond her years, Mary Ellen, with the help, gentle guidance, and unwavering love of her fathers business partner and his wife, is forced to make critical decisions about college, her home, romance, and her life. Decisions, radical changes, profound love, joy, anger, and deep, immense sorrow are heaped upon this very beautiful young woman-child in the roller coaster ride through the next chapters of her life. Will she ever be able to find the kind of peace again that shed had before that one tragic day? Will she ever be able to tell herself that she will actually be able to come home again once and for always?