To Jamie Dubois, love is anything but a bed of roses.

As a shrewd executive, Jamie is no stranger to hard work, and her soaring corporate career is her well-deserved reward. But while her professional life has flourished, her personal life has stalled as her wishful fantasies of being swept off her feet collided with the realities of bumpy landings. And after a series of such disappointments, she has given up--at least for now--on the whole idea of marriage and white picket fences.

By the time she meets Ken, who is a driven, Adonis-like hunk, Jamie is well-practiced at keeping her heart to herself. While she enjoys seeing him now and then, she has no intention of getting carried away. It's a long-distance affair, and she's sure that the distance will douse any careless flames that flicker during their occasional visits.

But Jamie's perfect dating arrangement abruptly ends when Ken unexpectedly moves to her hometown--and accepts a plum job with her employer. Suddenly, she has no way to avoid him or her long-buried desire for something real that she can hold onto. And the more she fights it, the more she wants it. Before long, her once predictable life is turned upside-down--and everything she wants becomes everything she can't have.