All his life Derek has searched for the truth about the parents he never knew: a father who died before he was born and a mother who followed soon after. After thirteen years of living and working on the Worthington Plantation-where his parents worked before him-he finally begins to think he'll never know who they were or what happened to them. Then one day, Jonathan, the eldest son of the household, and his wife, Catherine, come to stay. As the new visitors stir up still waters at the plantation, facts surrounding Derek's heritage slowly unravel. While Derek struggles to find the answers he has desperately wanted his whole life, Mrs. Worthington does everything she can to make sure he never learns the truth. In the first book of the trilogy, Derek is sent out of the main house to live and work with Devon, the old slaves who tends the horses, a change that opens new opportunities he'd never hoped for while living under Mrs. Worthington's direct rule. This could be his chance to leave the plantation for good.