Fleeing from the unwanted advances of a cruel master, chambermaid Annie Morgan--without family and tainted by scandal--finds safety in a marriage of convenience with widowed Welsh miner Evan Powell who dreams of immigrating to America. In the midst of Mormon missionaries preaching a strange new religion, disaster strikes her adopted Welsh town and Annie's troubled history can no longer be hidden.

Walter Vale is a widower who teaches economics at a Connecticut university. He lives alone and is no longer motivated by his work. In New York to present a paper at a conference, he goes to the apartment that he has not visited in some time, but has kept since his wife was alive, only to discover a young couple living there. Despite their great cultural differences, Walter befriends Tarek, a Syrian citizen and drummer, and gradually builds a friendship...