Long ago, in the deep South, Chloe Bienville stood watching at the window of her plantation ballroom for her fianc 's return from the War. Zach Brandon never came back. But Chloe is still waiting... Years later, Tyce Brandon, a talented architect--Southern to the core--devotes all his time to restoring the dilapidated plantation known as Caroline. The once-glorious mansion, the center of a decades-old feud with the proud Bienville family, has obsessed the Brandon men for generations. And now, a no-nonsense New Yorker named Delaney, the last of Bienvilles, is flying to Louisiana to end the feud once and for all--by destroying the plantation to make way for a shopping mall. Neither Tyce nor Delaney expected to meet the resident ghost of Caroline. A troubled spirit, Chloe Bienville has been waiting for a chance to be reunited with her long-lost love. Now, with the return of the last Brandon and the last Bienville, she intends to unite the two families and end the curse that torments her. But Tyce and Delaney prove to be most uncooperative and refuse to fall in love on command. Then they discover Chloe's secret diary and discover her mischievous side and the lifelong battles of wits she played with her overbearing father and brothers. As they come to understand the legacy Chloe has left for them, they surrender to a passion that will shake the very foundation of Caroline Plantation.