: It's been 23 years since Anna North survived an attack by a madman who cut off her pinkie, then vanished. Now, she writes thrillers under a pen name and finally feels safe. But when letters arrive from a disturbed fan, and a close friend disappears, she realizes her past is linked to the murders of three women in New Orleans.

When socialite Emma Crowell stops the carriage on the way to Portland to exercise her fussy poodle, she does not expect to become stranded in the woods in decidedly unsuitable attire. The pair of men who find her decide to take her back to their cave, where they've hidden sheep they rustled. When rancher Peter Lowery arrives, furious, to retrieve his property and discovers Emma, he does the Christian thing and brings her, her dog and the thieves back...