Once a literary bad boy, Professor Sebastian Swift now confines himself to teaching poetry at a quiet Maine college-and trying not to self-destruct.When one of his most gifted students turns up bruised, frightened, and implicated in the murder of his powerful father, Swift makes a choice that could cost him everything: he helps the boy disappear.Unfortunately, Swift's lover-Stone Coast Police Chief Max Prescott-is leading the investigation.Convinced his student is being framed, Swift retreats to his family's isolated island bungalow to track him down and uncover the truth. But on a windswept shore where the past lingers like sea mist and loyalties blur as easily as footprints in sand, Swift begins to realize he may have misjudged more than just the case.As suspicion deepens and the body count threatens to rise, Swift must decide how far he's willing to go to protect someone he believes in-and whether his relationship with Max can survive one more act of reckless faith.Because love, like poetry, is rarely simple.And sometimes the wrong choice is the only one that feels right.