At twenty-seven, Hadley is still trying to get free of the weight she's carried all her life: entering foster care at age five, getting arrested at seventeen for arson, and losing her boyfriend, Monroe, when she needed him most. Monroe never wanted to walk out on Hadley. He'd understood her, from her desire to help children with speech issues to her intense temper. But when she was arrested, he became haunted by what he knew and convinced his only choice was to end their friendship. Almost ten years later, Hadley and Monroe are both specialists in the field of speech therapy. They meet again...thrown together to help a four-year-ild girl who's been rendered mute after being rescued from an apartment fire. Years of secrets and anger beg to be set free as Hadley and Monroe try to push aside past hurts and find common ground in order to help the traumatized young girl and her family.