When Sara Foster runs away from home at sixteen, she leaves behind not only the losses that have shattered her world but the girl she once was, capable of trust and intimacy. Years later, in Los Angeles, she is renowned as much for her brilliant cocktails as for the mystery that clings to her. Across the city, Emilie Dubois is in a holding pattern. In her sixth year and fifth major as an undergraduate, she yearns for the beauty and community her Creole grandparents cultivated. On a whim, she takes a job arranging flowers at the glamorous restaurant and embarks on an affair with the married owner. When Sara catches sight of Emilie one morning, their connection is immediate. But the damage both women carry, and the choices they have made, repeatedly pulls them apart. When Sara's old life catches up to her, upending everything she thought she wanted just as Emilie has finally gained her own sense of purpose, they must decide if their love is more powerful than their pasts.