Nicolette Dazincourt is a naive small-town girl when she marries the wealthy, sexy Montgomery DeLande, but she quickly learns that money and power have given her husband and his family license to engage in monstrous psychosexual terrorism. Hunter paints a chillingly realistic picture of an abusive relationship: alternately pampered and "punished," Nicolette grows desperate for her husband's approval and acquiesces to his every demand. When she discovers that the Delandes are abusing her young daughters, Nicolette tries to leave only to be thwarted by the family's ruthless determination to prevent any defection.