On a warm May night in San Francisco, a celebrity-studded charity auction is savagely ended by a violent earthquake. In the aftermath, the lives of four strangers will converge- Sarah Sloane, the beautiful wife of a financial star, Grammy-winning singer Melanie Free, Photographer Everett Carson, and Sister Maggie Kent. As the city staggers back to life, a chain of events will touch each of the survivors and as a year passes and the anniversary of the earthquake approaches, more surprises are in store, as each discovers the unexpected gifts in a tragedy's wake- and the amazing grace of new beginnings.