Photographer Jo Ellen Hathaway thought she'd escaped the house called Sanctuary long ago. She'd spent her loneliest years there, after the sudden, unexplained disappearance of her mother. But now someone is sending her pictures, strange candid close-ups, culminating in the most shocking portrait of all - a photo of her mother, naked, beautiful and dead. Jo decides she must return to face her bitterly estranged family, her father, who has never recovered from the loss of his wife, and her brother and sister. But while her presence stirs up old resentments, Jo finds solace with architect Nathan Delaney - who is also facing his own demons.