Sadie Hughes has learned to survive in silence. At sixteen, she’s already carried more than most adults can imagine. After years of merciless bullying at her old school, her transfer was meant to be a fresh start — a chance to rebuild. But just before the winter break ends, her life shatters. Her mother loses a child during childbirth, leaving Sadie to raise her baby sister alone. Her father, broken and drowning in alcohol, becomes volatile and neglect. When he’s sober he’s distant and cold; when he’s drunk, he’s frightening — blaming Sadie for the loss of her mother child, even though she was just a child herself. He vanishes for months at a time, only occasionally leaving money on the counter before disappearing again. Underfed, exhausted, and emotionally depleted, Sadie once again finds herself the outsider, haunted by grief and responsibility no one her age should bear. Her transfer to a new high school in Southern California is meant to be her second chance — anonymity among strangers — but peace continues to evade her. Dean Montgomery looks like someone who has it all — the star athlete, revered on the rugby pitch, destined for greatness. A force of power and precision, he’s the team’s heart and his community’s pride, expected to rise to the top with no room for failure. But behind his confident exterior, Dean carries a hidden injury and the weight of impossibly high expectations. He doesn’t let anyone in, save for his best friend Gerald — the one person who sees through his calm. When Sadie arrives at school, quiet and fragile, Dean finds himself unsettled in the way only the unexpected can do. Her sad eyes and quiet strength become the only thing he truly sees — challenging the path he’s always believed he must follow and opening old wounds he’s never let anyone touch. In a world where they both are trying not to break, what happens when two wounded hearts find each other?