Sometimes to take a step in the right direction, you have to run away. Sarah Collier's life has always been scripted for her, according to the expectations of her domineering, socially-connected Connecticut family. Everything always went as planned...until the unthinkable happened moments before walking down the aisle. On a whim, she does the first thing that comes to mind-she takes off on her honeymoon, alone. Sarah has never acted on spontaneity, so the impromptu trip may not be what Sarah thinks it will. The quaint and rustic harbor village of North Berwick on Scotland's East Lothian coast is typically devoid of tourists in the winter. So when an auburn-haired stranger who wanders into his pub on a cold, Sunday evening, Bretton Keith, self-assured and flirtatious pub owner that he is, sees an opportunity to break up the monotony of another village winter. As Bretton comes to know, he finds it increasingly difficult to uphold his credo of never becoming attached. Can he forget the mistakes of the past and learn to trust another with his heart? Will Sarah, daring to think of her life in a different way, be brave enough to risk it on a man who was so hurt by another that he swore off ever falling in love again, or will the demands of her family prove too big an obstacle to overcome?