Lindsey Bains Johanson has spent her entire life practicing the art of denial. She was always the obedient, perfect daughter of General Travis Bains until she learned of the atrocities he committed against her own sister. Now, free of her father, she has become the perfect wife. A lifetime of training has enabled her to keep quiet about anything and everything, including the monster her husband becomes behind closed doors.

Circumstances allow her to take an unprecedented vacation, which she uses to visit her sister in Washington State, clear across the country from her home in Arlington, Virginia. Free of her husband's presence, she starts to step out of the confines he keeps her shackled in. With the help of veterinarian Noah Clark, she learns that she doesn't have to be so good or obedient. But she also knows that the woman she is becoming is someone her husband will never allow her to be.

When her husband eventually comes for her, she goes home without telling anyone the secret she has kept at the expense of her mind and body. But this time things go too far; and only then does Noah discover what she has hidden for years. But Lindsey knows that nothing will stop her husband from destroying her, no matter how long it takes.