A man is found dead, alone in an old motel room at the start of a new year. What at first seems to be a heart attack soon turns out to be so much more, a fate rooted in several decades and spanning multiple countries. A fate that Detective James Branson now has to sort out.

In his search for the truth, Detective Branson crosses paths with an immigrant family and a mother who would do anything for those she loves. For Liliya Dachov, leaving behind her native Ukraine to pursue a better life for her twins was a life-changing decision. She knew even before she got on that plane that her already-difficult life was about to become even more trying. Yet she wasn’t prepared for the whirlwind coming her way or for the shifting tides of family she would encounter. At the core of her sacrifice were a son and a daughter who were quickly growing up and learning to survive in a foreign land. 

The closer Branson gets to finding out what happened, the more he discovers the complexities that weave people together and what it really means to be a family.