The marriage of Mona and Shawn Black was dominated by infidelity and lies. Now the drama that nearly tore them apart seems to have passed on to the next generation. Their children, Alex and Ashley, are in their second year at UCLA, and life is not simple for either one of them. Now that he knows Shawn Black is not his biological father, Alex is busy searching for the identity of his birth father. Unbeknownst to him, his sister Ashley seems to have inherited a destructive trait from this mystery man--using people's secrets to get what she's unwilling to work hard for.After the death of his lover, Wallace returns to California. He's on a mission to reconcile with the family that threw him out when he was eighteen, as well as to uncover information about his deceased partner. Who was the real James Parks, and why did he come to such an untimely demise? Wallace discovers shocking secrets that reveal a connection with James that he never knew he had.College professors Grace and David Andrews are a married couple keeping secrets from each other. This is no run-of-the-mill marital infidelity, though. David doesn't know that his someone-on-the-side shares a painful link to Grace's past. If the truth is revealed, it could send everyone down a path to certain devastation.One man has had a hand in the fate of every one of these characters. His actions have resulted in the dismemberment of three families. Now that the loose ends have begun to unravel, will any of them be able to pull their lives back together?