Growing up in Cajun country, the only family Ruby Landry has ever known is her loving guardian Grandmere Catherine and Grandpere Jack, a drunken outcast who lives alone in the swamp. Grandmere’s talents as a spiritual healer and craftswoman ensure that she and Ruby are not in want for the essentials and their simple home is happy and secure. Her mother’s tombstone is engraved with the date of Ruby’s birth and her father was a man who passed through the bayou and doesn’t even know she exists and these facts make her sad, yet she is grateful for all she has, as well as future hopes and promises. She falls in love with Paul, the son of a wealthy family who try to forbid their romance, yet she stills dreams of a home and marriage with him. But Grandmere urges her to follow her dram of becoming a great artist and foresees the day when Ruby will leave the bayou and be surrounded by riches.  But first, there are terrible secrets, blackmail and revenge to discover – including why she must give up her love for Paul. This book is completed from story line notes made by the late Virginia Andrews, with the permission of her family.