In the post-World War II summer of 1945, Rachel Winnapee, a poverty-stricken sixteen-year-old Native American orphan, goes to work at the grand summer home of the March family on the shores of Lake Michigan. Surrounded by wealth, she strives to remain invisible, until she is assigned the task of caring for the family's emotionally shattered young scion, Woody March, a veteran haunted by his battlefield memories.

Rachel is a young woman with no future; Woody's has already been mapped out in intricate detail: he is to run a successful banking business, marry the well-bred Elizabeth, and carry on the family name with distinction. Yet the weight of these obligations becomes unbearable as he finds himself inexorably drawn to Rachel. As the relationship between the two intensifies, it moves toward one pivotal event that will change their lives forever.