How can anyone choose the correct fork in life's road when each choice leads to a damnation of sorts? When Frank Daceasy appears one spring day at Lynnwood, a small housing development near Raleigh, North Carolina, everything seems to take a turn for the better. The new head carpenter soon gains the respect and admiration of everyone he meets. But a routine background check on Frank turns up not a checkered past, but no past at all, and this soon attracts government attention. Federal investigators uncover Frank's recent past and establish his innocence, but the incredible reality of his real past remains a mystery until Lori Marnes, Lynnwood's office manager, focuses her indomitable curiosity on the problem. Other complications arise, in particular Elaine Azerian, a veterinarian who falls in love with Frank almost at first sight. The feeling is mutual, but all the years of Frank's past have not prepared him for falling in love. As the two draw warily ever closer, Frank quickly realizes that his growing affection for Elaine is at odds with his mission in life and that he must put a stop to it. An honorable departure seems to be the only way to deal with the situation, but the people whose lives Frank has touched, vow not to let that happen. Strong-willed Lori Marnes and her new husband are undeterred by the discovery of Frank's true past, and Frank is caught in the middle.