Emma Qualyes survived a tragic event that no one should endure. She's become a hermit living with her older brother, talented at a craft few young people do, quilting. Now her brother, Ben, a world-famous epidemiologist, and his fellow doctor, Wayne Meeks, are leaving for a long trip and Emma's getting a baby-sitter, even though she's seventeen. Dylan Meeks survived not only the death of his mother and disabling injuries, but estrangement from his father. He's gone through post-traumatic stress disorder to post-traumatic growth, established a new normal. He lives his life to the fullest without being careless of the gift he's been given. Yet now he is spending the summer in Arizona with a stranger-a girl no less, who is his babysitter. No sooner do Emma and Dylan meet than danger looms in the form of a phone call that threatens Ben, Wayne and even Emma's life. Who's after them? Why? Can the desert save them when man and nature attempt to kill them?