Unconditional love can make a family in the same way misdirected love can break one.
Isabelle was born poor, lost her mother at a young age, and was raised by a father who tormented her. But she was born with a blessed curse. Remembering everything she read, saw, or heard could be both an advantage and a punishment. School was easy: straight A's throughout. However, her memory never faded, not a detail. To think back meant to relive the moment as if for the first time. The pain from her past could be overwhelming, and with no training in how to deal with it and no one to understand her plight, those around her suffered.
Alexandra never understood her mother, but she would unknowingly provide her mother with a savior. A granddaughter with the same blessed curse who experienced unimaginable torment by none other than her grandmother, Isabelle.
The differences in their choices, guided by those who were supposed to love them and those who really did, become very clear. They are reflected in the lives that are destroyed, damaged, saved, and healed.