Caroline Venable has everything her Southern heritage promised: money, prestige, a rich husband - and a predictable routine of country-club luncheons and cocktail parties.

If Caro drinks a little too much for Clay's liking, he knows the reason why, and he takes comfort in the fact that she can escape to the island in the Lowcountry that her beloved Granddaddy left her. Wild and seemingly timeless, the island is a place of incomparable, breathtaking beauty - and it is the one place where Caroline can lose herself and simply forget. Roaming the island is a band of wild ponies, whose freedom and spirit have captivated Caro since she was a child.

When she learns that her husband must either develop the island or lose the company that he has spent his whole life building, she is devastated.

Spurred to action and inspired with new purpose, Caroline must confront the part of herself that she has numbed with alcohol and careful avoidance, and she must reconsider her priorities - what is so important that she would die for it? In fighting to save the island - her island - Caroline draws on an inner strength that forces her to reconsider her role in society, her marriage, and, ultimately, herself.