This novel tries to capture the story and chronicles the fates of two families as they try to escape the sins that withhold them. The story follows the intertwined destinies of two families and has quite a fierce storyline. The families are called the Trasks and the Hamiltons who have stories that are interwoven. The story is set in the Salinas Valley, California. Samuel Hamilton is a man with children who have grown up and who begin to live their own lives. In the meanwhile, the wealthy Adam Trask has bought the best ranch in the valley. There is a parallel story of a girl named Cathy Ames. She is known to be selfish and cruel, and runs away from her home after burning down her home and her parents. After a string of incidents, she finally marries Adam only to leave him wounded and depressed. He has no one to help him take care of his two children but Samuel Hamilton and his cook, Lee. Thus begins the connection between the two families.