Nothing can prepare writer Hillary Cox for seeing her lover of more than 20 years, mining magnate John St. George, announce on television that he's marrying another woman. Seeking revenge, Hillary begins a tell-all book exposing John and his shady pat. John's sister, Pamela also wants revenge on her brother - she has suffered horrifying abuse at his hands. She sets out to wrest control of the family's mining business from him. As Hillary attempts to end her obsession with St. George, Pamela searches for Cutter Reid, the one man she has always loved and from whom her brother has kept her away. Pamela readily acknowledges that he's 'arrogant, self-centred, despotic, and sly'. She tries, however, to dissuade Hillary from her plan, hinting that she has more subtle schemes afoot for John's destruction. But Hillary forges on, learning that the man for whom she harbours an obsession has a loathsome history of blackmail, theft, heartless seduction, attempted incest and physical violence.