Hannah moves in with a charismatic Amish leader, Aaron, to help with his ailing wife. Seeking refuge after leaving her Amish community, Hannah is grateful to Aaron and his wife for opening their home to her and giving her work but as she tends to her household chores, the spark between her and Aaron is undeniable. Hannah knows their secret relationship has them both living in sin, so she decides to end it but when Aaron’s wife suspiciously dies, she finds herself framed for murder and fighting to prove her innocence.

It's July 1895 and the New York elite have decamped to Newport, Rhode Island for a summer of balls, garden parties, and yacht races. Covering these events for the women's pages of the Newport Observer is Emma Vanderbilt-Cross, a fearless twenty-one-year-old writer with family ties to the wealthy Vanderbilt family.