Born to privilege and wealth, Elizabeth Millhouse is the only child of a tense and loveless relationship. Sequestered to a boarding school at a tender age, Elizabeth is ordered to stay at school even through the holidays. When she is finally allowed home for the first time, it is only to visit a newly affectionate father on his death bed.
After prayers for her father’s recovery are denied, she rejects God and determines to live her life without reference to Him. Left alone with a cold and distant mother, Elizabeth seeks to forge her own path, searching for permanence and love in a world where circumstances shift like quicksand beneath her feet.
Personal loss and the revelation of her own history build to a sudden understanding—in closing herself to God, she has denied herself the very love she craves.
