Sent by her family to a mental institution in New York, Fiona Lennox has only the memories of her lover, Chloe Fields, to keep her going. These memories she explores in long, unsent letters to Chloe that she keeps hidden under her bed. Fiona's domineering father disapproves of her sexuality and has tried repeatedly to alter it through psychiatric intervention. Months earlier, seeking to escape his influence, Fiona had found work as a tattoo artist in the sleepy town of Middleton. There she crossed paths with Chloe, a young housewife, and mother. Attraction deepened quickly into a powerful bond, and Fiona's love enabled Chloe to be true to herself at last. Despite guilt at breaking up her family and the threat of a scandal, Chloe bravely leaves her husband for a woman in a conservative Southern town. But no sooner had the couple begun to build a life together, parenting Chloe's two young sons, that Fiona's family descends on Middleton, bringing with them a world of lies, secrets, and hints at a dark, destructive past. Fiona becomes erratic, and as her inner demons emerge in a series of bizarre events, Chloe must face the possibility that her beloved and savior may be the victim of scars too deep to heal.