Sarah MacAlpin has always felt like an outsider. Raised by her Scottish grandmother deep in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Sarah grew up with one foot in the old world and one foot in the new world. Her childhood friends were the stuff of ancient Celtic legends. But Sarah’s seemingly idyllic past hides a horrifying secret. As a little girl she watched her mother’s inexorable slide into madness. But she hasn’t let her past stop her from reaching for her dreams. She has managed to put together a pretty good life for herself. She has great friends, a boyfriend, and her career as a folklorist is all planned out. That is until she meets Dermot Sinclair. The handsome Scot seems to be dogging her every step. At best he’s a fellow folklorist who can help her research. At worst, he could be there to steal her work. All she has to do is find one song that proves her thesis and her dissertation will be done. Unfortunately, unlocking that song may also mean unlocking some buried memories and a dangerous destiny set in motion generations ago.

The traumatic events of The River Maiden have left Sarah MacAlpin’s life in shambles. Her best friend won’t talk to her. The man she loves says they can’t be together. She’s just discovered something that destroys the main thesis of her dissertation. To top it off, she’s learned that her dream fellowship in Scotland was given to her with ulterior motives by her billionaire benefactor. Sarah has to choose whether to accept the fellowship anyway or try to find a different path. Meanwhile, she’s battles her own personal demons and questions about her family. She hopes to find some answers in her mother’s memoir. What she finds are some upsetting parallels to her own life. Like Sarah, Molly left Kettle Holler on the verge of making her dreams come true, but her ambitions were derailed by a family secret that took her across an ocean and left her a broken shade of her former self.

Just when Buddy Corbett thought his night couldn't get any worse, his brothers show up. As the youngest of the contentious Corbett clan, Buddy has spent most of his life trying to get away from the remote mountain hollow where they all grew up. Now at the end of a long day, he can't avoid talking to them. When one of his brothers mentions their old neighbor, Maggie MacAlpin, he can't help thinking about Old Maggie's granddaughter, Sarah. She was as tough and wild as she was beautiful. And she was the first girl that Buddy ever loved. One summer when they were barely old enough for kissing, Buddy learned just how much that love could cost them.