As a boy, Jack Coltrane spent his time hiding in Coltrane House, desperate for his father's love and terrified of his drunken violence. But when tiny Merry came along as his father's young ward, Jack found someone to love and to protect. Then, in order to link Merry's fortune with his own, Jack's dreadful father married them in a secret ceremony. Only Jack is forced to flee from home when his faher reveals a dark secret. Now, years later, Jack has returned to set things right for the little girl he'll always love . . . but cannot. Merry still believes that Jack fled because of the disasterous ceremony and she is reluctant to trust the man who has returned to her.