War widow Alice Young knew the secret of the Dare Stone long before the carved rock became frontpage news because the stone had sat, for centuries, at Evertell, her family's estate outside of Savannah, until it disappeared during the summer she turned thirteen. The story of Eleanor Dare's miraculous survival is Young family lore, long preserved in both a singsong verse Alice learned as a child and in a book passed down through the generations of women descended from Eleanor and her daughter, Agnes. Alice had been next in line to receive the book that long-ago summer, but everything changed when the stone and book vanished. Alice, now thirty-two, learns that Evertell was never sold and the deed to it is hers. Her own thirteen-year-old daughter, Penn, is enamored with the idea of exploring the family history she never knew she had, and Alice decides they will visit the estate just long enough to sell it and start over. But soon Alice learns that leaving one's past behind isn't nearly as important as embracing one's truth.