After bidding farewell to his family and Trint, the man he's come to care for, Rafe heads out to sea, free to be himself for the first time in his life—free to learn himself, away from the constraints and trials of his mother, away from the terrible person he believed himself to be while forced to live with her. When Rafe returns home his family is waiting for him—but there's no sign of Trint. With a little push from his ward, Rafe decides to be bold and go after what he wants, though he fears in the end that all his efforts might still not be good enough to overcome the past and the secrets that have controlled so much of his life.