From the moment she found the satin baby dress in the attic of her parents' Amish home, Katie Lapp's identity was shattered. Painfully torn from her close-knit community in a frightening ordeal called the "shunning," Katie, now Katherine Mayfield, sets out to find the ailing birth mother she has never known. Her journey takes her to the peaceful home of Lydia Miller, where electric lights and telephones set Katherine's mind whirling, and on to the elaborate Bennett estate, where the plain garb of the Amish is misused to disguise an evil conspiracy. Unknown to Katherine, her first love, Daniel, is taking steps to return to his Amish family and to her. But their worlds may have drifted too far apart to bridge the gap.