On a horse farm in the steeplechase country of Maryland's My Lady's Manor, ER physician Alex Randolph and his girlfriend, Penny Murray, are recovering from injuries sustained in a hospital hostage incident that transforms them into instant but unwilling national celebrities. A thousand miles distant-in a parallel universe-an abused and impoverished young girl from the Everglades evolves into a stunningly beautiful sociopath of enormous wealth. As a golden summer transitions to fall, dark obsession stalks the unknowing young couple, and fate inexorably leads three lives to collision, sweeping the idyllic landscape of My Lady's Manor with terror and death.