Travel writer Lea Sutter finds herself on a small island off the coast of South Carolina, the wrong place at the wrong time. A merciless, unanticipated hurricane cuts a path of destruction and Lea barely escapes with her life. In the storm's aftermath, she discovers orphaned twin boys and impulsively decides to adopt them. The boys, Samuel and Daniel, seem amiable and immensely grateful; Lea's family back on Long Island--husband Mark and their two children aren't quite so pleased. But even they can't anticipate the twins' true nature--or predict that, within a few weeks' time, Mark will wind up implicated in two brutal murders, with the police narrowing in.