Upon discovering their existence, 17-year-old Heaven Casteel moves from her backwoods upbringing in Winnerrow, West Virginia to live with her wealthy, pretentious maternal grandmother and stepgrandfather, Jillian and Tony Tatterton, at Farthinggale Manor in Boston, where her own mother Leigh was raised before she ran off to marry Luke Casteel. Heaven's belief that this move would be permanent, important for her because she has nowhere else to go, is not realistic; Jillian's fragile constitution leaves her ill-equipped to deal with an extra person in her manor, let alone a teenager. Heaven is able to convince Tony to let her stay, but he warns her that certain portions of Farthinggale Manor are off-limits to her, and that she must leave her backwoods history in the past. She doesn't realize what kinds of secrets that Tony has some secrets that he wants to remain buried.