When Emily Parker leaves her small hometown in the late 1980s for California West University, she thinks she has it all figured out. But when manipulation, vanity, and pleasure enter her life in the form of a whirlwind college romance, will she stay true to herself? Add the watchful eye of an older brother who also attends Cal West, friends who care too much, a strenuous class load and part-time job, and throw in a young, interested professor. Emily's path into adulthood challenges her at every turn.

After Emily's world is destroyed by lying and cheating, she returns to her hometown seeking solace and clarity but encounters nothing of the sort, only to return to Los Angeles and find her troubles exactly where she left them. Embarking on a new internship, she's poised and ready to go, but haunted by love and loss. Should she consider forgiveness? Or is there something better waiting on the other side of her grief?

When Emily graduates from Cal West University she discovers a career with great opportunity and status, the promise of something special with not one but two men, and friends and family at every turn. For Emily, things seldom stay the same for long...what challenges and choices will her career and relationships bring? Who's a friend, who's a lover? And will the watchful eyes and opinions of everyone who means anything to her get in the way? Out of college and into the "real world" tests Emily's biggest choices so far.

When Emily Parker returns to her hometown after several years, she's reminded of the rolling hills and captivating quiet, the found memories of growing up and one lost love. Years of relationships falling short behind her, she's finally happy on her own. So why when she makes the turn into her hometown does she think of that one boy, that one relationship that only lasted the span of a summer but stayed on her mind over the years? Why have all other relationships paled in comparison?