In 1967, as Hope King hovers over her husband, Jerome, he implores her, with dying breath, to flee New Orleans. The journey is one of terror. She hides deep in a Louisiana bayou...It is now 2007 and Grandma Hope (mama') has acquired three Cajun restaurants. Her granddaughter, Hope Ann Marcel, helps her run them. Glenn King shows up and claims to be Hope Ann's cousin. Now Mama' is forced to to tell Hope Ann about her grandfather Jerome. She didn't know, back then, he was an under boss for the Galliano crime family. Jerome was the first one to get killed, when the gang war started. Next Matthew...

Patience is not an ordinary girl. She is very bright and is able to do some amazing things. Secretly, and with her mother's guidance, she is the first female to escape from the polygamous, Jacksonville Compound. The secret takes years of planning and lots of work. Before her escape, more then once, her secret is almost discovered. After she leaves the compound she must survive until her eighteenth birthday, otherwise, if she is caught, she will be classified as a runaway and be returned to the compound. During this time she goes through some frightful and nerve-racking experiences.