Sofia Kurbanov cannot escape the bitterness she harbors for the repressive government under which her family continues to suffer in her native land. Brian Walsh cannot escape the unfulfilling attraction he harbors for Sofia, his former student. Each looks for a way to move on, Sofia through her career and freedom in the United States, and Brian in in Ireland, where he hopes to leave behind a life from spent mired in an emotional no-man's land and begin a new life grounded in peace and stability built upon a promising new relationship with a new love. Unfortunately, each discovers that the past is never so easily discarded, and transforming one's life is never so simple as choosing between darkness and light.