Two nights before Christmas 2006, JULIA RICHARDS, wife of prominent surgeon JUSTIN RICHARDS lies drugged and paralyzed in her burning bed. Looking through her window, she sees her husband staring back. He is smiling. 

Days later, Julia awakens in a burn unit, lucky to be alive but with charred flesh covering her entire back. The pain is excruciating, but she accepts it as a reminder of her own weakness. She holds the shame of her husband’s abuse deeply. Even Julia’s best friend DINAH CALVERT did not know, though she at last has figured it out.

Since awakening, Julia sees spirits whom she at first mistakes for living people. Whatever message they are trying to convey eludes her, but she welcomes them as part of her new world.

During her recovery, Justin plays the attentive husband as he whispers of vile threats if she goes the police. Realizing she will never be safe if she stays in Atlanta, Julia and Dinah orchestrate an “early release” to get her far from Justin’s reach.

Alone and on the road, Julia begins her journey of healing, reinventing herself as she travels westward until her truck breaks down outside of Granby, Colorado. There she meets CALDER, a cowboy possessing a quiet, reassuring confidence. After rescuing her from some not-so-good Samaritans, Julia and Calder settle into the local bar over a bottle of tequila. Later, their good night kisses lead to a steamy interlude, fueled on both sides by lust and loneliness.

The next morning Julia wakes up hungover and embarrassed. She guns it out of town without saying goodbye. All she has left of Calder is a name scribbled on a napkin—the Sears Ranch; a place in need of a cook. Running out of options, Julia finds her way to the ranch just outside of Medicine Bow, Wyoming. She is hired and settles into the comfortable routine of providing “three squares a-day” for the rambunctious ranch hands. She has yet to meet the ranch’s owner, DOC SEARS, who is traveling.

Weeks later, Doc Sears walks into the cookhouse and to Julia's shock, she realizes that he is none other than Calder. Drunk-tequila-sex-in-the-back-of-the-pickup Calder! She is mortified, but he doesn't give her away. Awkwardly at first, they begin again, resisting the ever-present tug of attraction between them. Events conspire to bring the two closer, finally finding a safe place for them both to reveal the secrets and shames of their respective pasts.

Julia finds the ranch has more than its share of ghosts amidst the family graveyard in the high mountain aspen. One appears regularly to her; the beautiful and mysterious JUNE, Doc’s mother. After a series of strange events, June finally conveys her message. A long-lost letter reveals a secret about Doc, which explains so much. 

Christmas brings an unexpected gift. Dinah arrives with the good news—Justin is dead of an apparent suicide. Doc says nothing to Julia, but suspects the story of Justin’s dramatic demise is a ruse, one that may have already led Justin to her hiding place.

Indeed, it has. Justin has found Julia by following Dinah, and he has a plan to avenge himself upon the only woman who has ever bested him. Setting one of the barns aflame is just the beginning of the payback. As events escalate, everyone, living and dead, is changed by the emotionally shattering conclusion.