Russell Ashford II, a testy New York corporate vice president in his family’s business, secretly writes romance novels but only receives letters of rejection from agents and publishers because unknowingly, his stories reflect he doesn’t know love or the craft of writing a romance novel.

When his father, the President of Stockmore, discovers the distraction, he doubts Russ’ commitment to the company. He forces his son to sign a Contract which banishes Russ from the life he knows, and requires a two-year deadline to become traditionally published. If by the deadline Russ becomes published, he can pursue his new career. But if he fails, he must return to his corporate life and stop his writing “hobby.” During that banishment, he is forbidden from contacting family or corporate associates, be without salary and perks, and immediately evicted from his corporate penthouse apartment to become homeless. In anger, Russ makes his situation worse by stating he will write a book solving the cold case murder of his mother, while exposing his father’s and stepmother’s involvement in the death.

Russ’ threat makes him need to disappear and assume a new identity. Using his pen name, Sidney Payton, he meets a successful romance author and hires her to teach him what he does not know about writing. However, Sydney Peyton is battling powerful chemo treatments which threaten her life, his instruction, and the unexpected love he experiences with her. But when the similarities of their names cause a major dilemma, which jeopardizes the fulfillment of his Contract, he reverts to his corporate cutthroat survival skills which inadvertently destroys his world and his future with the woman who no longer will have anything to do with him.

He knows what must be done, but will it be too late to make a difference?