After years of running away from each temporary home, Rose steps from the yacht she's been employed on for the last time. Her worn backpack is filled with only the necessities that experience has taught her she'll need for starting over, including her unsuspecting boss's salary advance. She finds herself in the carnival-like town of Bellindane, where every house, souvenir shop, and psychic's lair is on stilts.Past the clattering rollercoaster, bustles of delighted children, and squawking seagulls, Rose meets Jenny, an artist who invites her to live in her fairy-tale home-décor boutique. And the stronger her friendship with Jenny becomes, the more the urge to run fades.Then one day while enjoying the boardwalk, Rose sees a small girl who looks uncannily like she did as a child. It's as if her past has come back to haunt her; plus, the yacht owner is determined to make her present just as terrifying. Rose fears that she's dug herself a deeper hole than she may be able to get out of without the help of the one person who made her run in the first place.