"Years ago, Mary Margaret Sullivan changed her name, boxed up her previous life, moved into the Eagle Gate Apartments, and hid her painful memories in her chicken-wire storage unit in the basement. But secrets have an inconvenient way of surfacing when least expected. Three weeks before Christmas, an elegant man in a penthouse, a young woman named Carly---homeless and ill with pneumonia--and two calculating thieves invade Maggie's carefully reconstructed...

Sarah's had difficult years before - what high school teacher hasn't? - but this year is the worst. Although Sarah's managed as a single mother well enough, she's frequently exhausted and still angry at the curves life has thrown her way. Shepherding her painfully shy daughter, Jenny, through high school as well as the return of her ex-husband after a twelve-year absence shakes Sarah's fragile equilibrium. Additional trouble comes through the classroom...