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...