In 1980s China, tea grower Li-Yan is forced to give up her newborn daughter. The novel follows both Li-Yan and her daughter Haley over the next twenty years through trials and tribulations and ultimately both reside in Pasadena, California.

Nicolas von Bingen and Alex von Hemmerle, titled members of the German aristocracy, have been best friends since childhood. Both widowers, they are raising their children, Nick's two lively boys and Alex's adored teenage daughter, in peace and luxury on the vast Bavarian estates that have belonged to their families for generations. While Nick indulges in more glamorous pursuits, Alex devotes himself to breeding the renowned white Lipizzaner horses that enthrall audiences throughout Europe with their ability to dance and spin on command, majestic creatures whose bloodlines are rare and priceless. But it is Nicolas's bloodline that changes everything, when his father receives a warning from a high-ranking contact inside the Wehrmacht. A secret from the past has left the family vulnerable to the rising tide of Nazism: Nick's mother, whom he never knew, was of Jewish descent.

When their family is separated by the Korean War, sisters Miran and Inja live very different lives until they are re-united in America years later. However, they find that forging a connection with long lost family is more difficult and heart-wrenching than they imagined.

When tragedy befalls the wealthy Milton family in 1935, the repercussions will continue for generations, as the family members must reckon with racism, privilege, and long-kept secrets.

Told from alternating points of view the lives of two women: a Southern belle and a con artist, converge upon unraveling a mysterious and deadly plot. Almost a century later, a struggling writer will unearth even more secrets about her family's involvement and connection to the sinking of the Lusitania.