When Lauren Reynolds, a beautiful girl with a painful home life, breaks it off with her drug-addict ex, Matt, she is ready to give up on dating all together. Between raising her two younger brothers, working a meaningless nine-to-five with her best friend, and trying to talk sense into her physically abused mother, Lauren doesn't have much time or desire for a new man. Things change when Lauren meets a seemingly perfect match, Brandon Phillips. Lauren doesn't know that she is about to learn the hard way that Brandon's charm has a limit and that this new Loverboy has a much darker, sinister side...
When micro scientist Dr. Connors and his assistant, Libby Myers, are discovered missing from the small Everglades community of Emerald Lagoon, Libby's father becomes concerned and tries to find Roland, a local fishing guide, to search for her.
After his release from a wrongful incarceration, Adam Wurlitz, secures a job as a live-in groundskeeper for abusive father and angry entrepreneur, Louis Mercola. Adam is witness to Lou's violent beatings on his young mute son, Daniel. When Adam discovers that Lou's abuse goes far beyond just physical, he instinctively flees with the boy in search of a better life for them both.