Everyone in Washington knows Madeleine and Jack Hunter. Maddy is an award-winning TV anchorwoman, and Jack is the head of her network and an adviser to the President on media issues. To the world, theirs is a storybook marriage. But behind the locked doors of their lush Georgetown home, a very different story emerges. For as Maddy's career soars, a bitter edge of control and jealousy has crept in, so that the woman the nation idolises lives in degradation and fear. The cruelty she experiences at Jack's hands leaves no bruises, no scars, only the wounds of fear, humiliation and isolation.

Maddy's journey to healing begins when the President's wife offers her the opportunity to join her newly-formed Commission on Violence against Women. There Maddy hears chilling stories from terrified wives and girlfriends that sound eerily familiar. And there she meets Bill Alexander, a distinguished scholar and diplomat who also works on the commission. Bill suspects that something is terribly wrong in Maddy's marriage and, as she takes the first steps towards freedom, a remarkable series of events begin to unfold. White House headlines bring the country to a standstill, and a devastating tragedy occurs which forces Maddy to realise just how much she has lost - her confidence, her trust, her self-respect. As her journey comes to a close, she finds a strength she never knew she had...and a gift which will change her life forever.