Avery Daniels is a television journalist who has problems keeping emotionally uninvolved with her news stories. She survives a plane crash only to be mistaken for a fellow passenger whose child she has carried from the aircraft. Everyone believes that she is Carol Rutledge, the mother of the child. She has lost her voice and cannot communicate with the surgeons who will perform the cosmetic surgery to recreate the face of the dead Carol. While in recovery her life and that of Carol's husband are threatened. Avery fears she will be targeted if the killer discovers her real identity and sees an unparalled opportunity to regain her tainted reputation in the journalistic community.
Tate Rutlege is an up and coming politician in the Southwest with a very unhappy marriage, who is planning a divorce. He is very grateful to his "wife" for saving their daughter and decides to support her through the difficulties of surgery and recuperation. He does not understand the attraction he feels for this woman he has come to despose. It is almost like discovering that he is married to a different and exciting woman. His attempts to maintain his distance and aloofmess are woefully unsuccessful as he find himself falling in love with her all over again.
Meanwhile Avery is falling in love herself and finding out who among Tate's family and political circles wants to do him harm and possibly eliminate him.