Nick is a traveller, the Irish equivalent of a gypsy, while Wanda is the daughter of an arrogant woman, Samantha who is determined to maintain her family's assumed social status. Samantha makes no secret of his disdain for the Traveller and his ilk. The two teens meet in high school. Just as Wanda begins to have serious feelings for Nick, he tells her he's leaving and disappears. The two won't see each other again until seven years later, when Nick spots Wanda on a Dublin street and watches helpless as she walks in front of a bus. He follows her to the hospital and is with her as soon as she regains consciousness. Almost as soon as she's awake, though amazed and flattered that he has come to see her, she provokes an argument by asking why he walked out on her seven years before. The book moves from flashbacks of the past, to the present in which Wanda is a substitute teacher with a lover, Aidan, who is in Africa working as a volunteer. She has nursed conflicted feelings for Nick all along and still treasures a beautiful message he wrote in her diary. From the flashbacks, it is revealed that Nick was caught up in a tangled scheme instigated by his family: he agreed to a marriage in name only to a young woman named Susan, to give her legal status so his uncle can keep her as his mistress. Susan has a little girl, Destiny, and though not her real father, Nick cares for her now. The reunion with Wanda has revived his suppressed feelings for her. Boyfriend Aidan returns home with the news that he has found true love in Africa and will be leaving soon, not coming back. Nick has to go to his house in Donegal for a few days, but before he does, he visits Samantha Daly and gives her the money back she gave him to stay away from Wanda. Hoping that they can now have a chance at a relationship.He visits Wanda because she hasn't been at Destiny's school for a while and finds her at home, sick and miserable, bundles her up, takes her to Donegal and tries to convey the patched-together story of his past and why he left her before. Things become easier between them and a long-term relationship seems imminent. But when Nick returns to Dublin, he learns he is wanted by the police. Protected by his Traveller clan, all of whom have criminal connections, he goes into hiding, leaving Destiny in the care of his Aunt Clementine who lives next door to Wanda. Through a series of cyber hacks, assisted by Anna, who is Wanda's sister, Nick's brothers determine that he is innocent of the crime the police are trying to pin on him. In fact, the tangled web of accusation and guilt points to Samantha, who had personal reasons for despising not just Nick but someone else in his close-knit family. Striking out at Nick was part of her twisted idea of vengeance. Nick goes to the police and is released after his family provide evidence of his innocence.Nick and Wanda meet again in Donegal. Realizing that before she can enter into any permanent relationship, she has to find out who she really is apart from her scheming mother and her memories of the past, Wanda has accepted a one-year contract as a teacher in Vietnam. Nick will recover his equilibrium and remakes his life by being a responsible parent to his daughter and rekindles his love for carpentry.