Andy Walters, a small town lawyer with a checkered past, is not prepared, emotionally or professionally to help Violet Lorson, a local artist, when she tells him someone has tried to kill her and the police can't help, but he is honor bound by a promise, and even though she can be difficult and temperamental, he knows he must try to protect her.
Only a few years ago Andy Walters worked for a corporate law office in New York City. Now he has his own practice in a small town. He is a very competent lawyer yet he only takes minor civil cases. He works seventy plus hours a week and has no social life. Partly because of a failed marriage which shook him to the depths of his being, he doesn't get close to women his age. He wouldn't have considered helping a local shop keeper and artist,Violet Lorson, except that her brother saved Andy from an underage drinking arrest that would have made law school impossible. Even though her brother died in a car accident, Andy feels obligated. Violet is pretty, witty and talented, but she too, has had a complicated life. Whenever Andy thinks he is making headway at understanding her situation she abruptly shuts him out. Enigmatically, she tells Andy that she 'knows things she shouldn't' – even things about his life. Together, they help each other work through their emotional baggage and learn to trust each other. Everything seems to be going their way until her family, all named Lorson, start to die under suspicious circumstances.