"I've been sent to bring you back," the dark stranger said. "But I don't want to go back," answered Madeline Carlyle, one of the passengers on the London bound coach. So begins the battle of wills between a young runaway girl and the mysterious man in black. Each is committed to a course of action, Madeline, by a reoccurring dream and disturbing memories of the past and Tyler Wentworth, the would-be highwayman, by a promise made to his aging grandfather. Brought together by circumstance this tumultuous pair embark on a wild cross-country journey fraught with danger and misunderstanding. Slowly drawn closer by a mutual attraction they battle the elements in a life or death struggle to learn the truth behind a long-held secret.