Sheila Bernstein, a single mother evading an abusive ex-spouse, wants to recreate early memories of her family, before the death of her parents, so her son can know a normal life. She got married young to her college professor, who turned out to be controlling and abusive. She has divorced him and at the opening of the story is supporting herself and her four-year-old son as a wine buyer. Sheila is touring a Napa Valley winery for work, with her son in tow, her babysitting having fallen through at the last minute. She experiences a mutual and immediate attraction with the winery's owner and tour guide, Alan Marchand. Alan is disabled, having lost an arm ten years before. Then Sheila's ex-husband, Richard, shows up. Alan and his family fend him off. Sheila quickly gets drawn into life at the winery, eventually moving in and working there, falling in love with Alan, his family, and home, seeing there a stability and closeness she has never had. But not all is as it seems. Underneath the carefree spirits of the winery, something sinister lurks. There are rumors the winery is cursed. None of the family will talk about the crime in which Alan was injured and his girlfriend kidnapped and presumed killed. Alan, a talented artist before, no longer paints. Alan's sister and cousin, too, also seem caught in the web of the winery's spell, unable to move forward with their lives. Sheila experiences a number of strange events while alone at the winery and becomes convinced that it is indeed haunted. To go forward with their lives, Alan's and Sheila's painful pasts must be uncovered. In order to do this, Sheila is forced to look at Alan and his family critically and stand on her own feet. When she does, she decides to leave. She returns to her hometown of Sacramento and proves to herself that she is able to manage on her own and support her child. She, however, does return to Napa upon learning that she is pregnant with Alan's child. Back in Napa, Alan has resolved him primary conflict in recognizing that he is still attractive to women and that Sheila was not just using him. He and Sheila reconcile on her return. In the meantime, Alan's extended family, his cousins have sensed that something amiss, the spell breaking and the winery slipping from their control. They set fire to it on the day that Sheila returns. Alan and his immediate family manage to escape unharmed; however, the winery burns to the ground, taking with it generations of unhappiness-the place that had earlier seemed like a joyful haven to Sheila. Sheila and Alan make their new home in Sacramento, where Sheila realizes that she will always be, to an extent, under the Marchand "spell," but now it is something positive, bringing her the security she has craved.